REGUA, LAMEGO WALKING TOUR Afternoon 12/17/2013

REGUA AND LAMEGO

 

On the way to this area, I did notice that I got mildly bus sick.  The ride was winding and up and down all along the Douro.  We did the section that is the most difficult to navigate, where the water sometimes is only 6 feet deep.  Then there was another lock after which the river was wide again and deep and easy.

We passed a few Quintas, including Quinta Dona Matilde

http://www.donamatilde.pt/

We went by areas that were all rock and sparsely populated. 

Mist was on the mountains.

 

Along the sides were olive trees and some trees that took on autumn colors. 

We saw an older wining station, a place where grapes hand picked and brought down from the terraced vine areas in large baskets were processed before the wine went out on boats. 

We then climbed one of these huge mountains on winding and twisting roads that offered great views but moved our bus on a narrow road just inches from and edge that would send us down into definite death.  It was scary and fun.  My nausea was replaced with elation and fear.
And finally we arrived at Lamego.  How eerie it looked in the mist.  A good gothic film could be created here. 

 

 

 

 

However, inside the church it was a totally different tone. 

 

 

Of couse, if there is a fountain I have to have at the water.  I don't really drink it.  Here I tried putting it on my head to see if the arthritis would go away.  Portuguese red wine had better effect.

 

 

 In 1143, nobles declared Afonso Henriques to be Portugal's first king. The town's Gothic cathedral was built by him, although only the Romanesque tower is left from the original building.

Here is another travelers detailed account

It is a pretty good summary of the place.
We did not try the massive staircase of 686 steps.  Some of the party did walk down them just for the experience and exercise.  Pilgrims do this staircase on their knees on the way up.
This is my favorite church so far.  It was all about Mary and about Jesus as a baby.

I saw no crucifixion. 

Everything may have been restored recently because it all looked fresh.  The stained glass developed the faces of Mary and others in a very simple and fresh manner.  There were some iron bars protecting the stained glass, but they were crossed in ways not to so obscure the  art as in the cathedral in Lisbon. 

There were wonderful tile scenes in the blue on white and these two featured soft scenes with Mary and baby and perhaps some cherubs winging about. In the 16^th century St. John was ousted as the focus and Mary installed along with the statue we saw on the altar that dates back to those days.

On the 8 of September there is a pilgrimage to this place and some of the participants climb the large staircase on their knees.  We did not even descend the staircase as some others did.

There was one of those mid church lecterns.

This whole area was much more influencial when it was still risky to do much of value from the coastal cities as they were vulnerable to Viking attacks.  Then gradually those cities took over importance from these areas set back along the Douro River and inland.

In 1854 the politics further hurt the area because it was an area of church interests and conservative ideas.  It was too conservative and connected to the church for the new times.

Our guide mentioned that there was some controversy because the statue shows Our Lady breast feeding baby Jesus, but I did not see that represented.












I loved the ceiling, a blue and white artistic presentation.  I particularly liked that above the old organ pipes in the second floor where the choir sang were two sections of that ceiling dedicated to musical instruments.  It looked new.  It was dated 1857. 

 

The feeling of this place reminded me of the feelings I get in that Montreal Maria de bon Secour chapel. There too some of the emphasis was on healing and focused on a woman. 

Then we moved in the buses again down to Regua.
Our guide recommended a sandwich specialty in town, but we skipped it.
It was very cold and rainy in our visit to Regua, and it did not help that place was shut down in the center with construction.  It was interesting to see the sand laid out for new cobblestones and watch a trunk dump a huge pile of squared off stones to be places individually in the sand to make the sidewalk.   However, it was hard to figure out how to walk to meet the buses again.

There was a nice little art museum and we visited quickly.  What I liked best were six paintings that depicted scenes in the life of the Prodigal son.  In his time of decadence, he is depicted playing cards.

Then he is seen living with animals.  It is not the disgusting scene I think of as in the story.  It is really more pastoral and rather than sleeping in a pig stye, he is standing and looking really pretty good in this poverty time.

In the final panel he is in the courtyard publically asking his father for forgiveness.

We don't see the fatted calf feast nor do we see any part of the paintings developing his brother's jealousy.

There were fine tapesties, but I am not much of a tapestry guy, and much of the other art was Catholic themed art.  This photo shows a very fine scene with music. 

The famous Portuguese tile was represented.  I love these representations all around Portugal.  This one is unusual.  Of course, anything with fish or birds attracts our attention.  However, at the bottom are feeding lions, so it is not all sweet nature.

I did like seeing portraits of Saint Vincent and also Saint Sebastian who was pierced by arrows.  Usually I don't like to see the persecution of the Chrisitians, but something about the painting caught my imagination.
I did not get those photos, but I did get these

We were amazed at these sculptures of pregnant Mary with child.  I don't believe we have seen anything like this before.

 Also, we saw some books.  One was of the old square notes like Nora sings.

 

 

These manger scenes were pretty interesting and fit the season 

Collected in one room were parts of church art from around the area.

 

Elizabeth was taken with this shawl or blanket




 

And she liked Christ's blessing of the animals. Elizabeth says there is a black unicorn that does not show up in the photo.

We rode the bus back to the ship, catching it at another location and ended our day at the Sandeman QUINTA DE SEIXO winery and grape vine area. 



Here we had a similar guided tour about the making of port wine.  Our guide wore the cap of Coimbra and a hat that she said represented the Spanish sombrero.  In this way she symbolized both countries.


The story of the Sandeman wine company is told on their website.
http://www.sandeman.eu/#
As I understood it, they bought up a lot of little places and so they became huge and a common symbol for port the way Coke is a symbol for soda.



Here they did not seem to make the Ruby but only the white and the Tawny.  They also must make Mateus Rose as they had bottles for as cheap as about five dollars, but then it is not much more expensive at home.

 

Supper back on the boat was delicious.  The chef made a shank of lamb by marinating it in red wine and adding rosemary and other spices he did not name.  He skipped garlic because some on the boat are alergic.  Too bad.  With it we had a fine portobella starter and a chocolate covered pear for dessert as well as a cheese plate. 

At the table was the couple with one fellow from London and a woman from Tucson who hook up as traveling friends.  Also were two folks from Dallas.  It was very lively conversation.

The fellow from Dallas had been to Costa Rica on the west side.  He also does not any longer go to Mexico.  In Nicaragua he said there are still some issues for travelers, but the coastal area where Cory's friend has a place seemed fine to him.

The English fellow talked a long bit about making his own Sangria.  He adds brandy and another liquor that I've forgotten.  He also make a good paella.  He has not been in Spain in a while, but loved the South as a young man.  Returning he found what I found, that everything was overbuilt and changed and modernized.
Outside the wine tasting room at Quinta do Seixo, we took the winding road back to the boat that had moved to dock at Pinhao.  The folk music show that night was not our favorite thing but it was lively... perhaps once again we were too tired to enjoy. 

 

While we were having all this fun, our ship was moving from Regua to Pinhao and we were bussed back to that docking.