There are usually two things that happen when we stop in Amarante, about 60km east of Porto along the A4: either the weather isn’t cooperating, or there’s nowhere to park so we push on.
Those two factors thwarted my previous attempts to get any photos of Amarante in good weather, when the waters of the Tâmega River weren’t raging. So when Paulo decided he would brave the Saturday morning market traffic of Amarante in a bid to show our French visitors the town, I knew I would take advantage of this occasion to run around and take as many photos as I could with Ice the Dog in tow.
We were entirely outside on Saturday, so I’ll refer you to the January 2014 post for more about Igreja de São Gonçalo.
Let’s start with São Gonçalo Square, beside Igreja de São Gonçalo (the larger brown church) and below Igreja de São Domingos (with the clock tower, now a museum).
After a very late breakfast, I left the others at the café and took Ice up the steep ramp towards Igreja de São Domingos for the view. You can either go up the ramp in front of the church or hazard the steep, narrow staircases through the ancient neighbourhood around the church.
The current iteration of Ponte de São Gonçalo over the Rio Tâmega was completed in 1791, replacing another bridge estimated from the 13th century, during Roman times. The São Gonçalo Bridge is best known for holding off Napoleon’s army during the Peninsular War (1807-1814), a 14-day defence in 1809. The century anniversary of that successful defence was commemorated in 1909, and referenced in the plaque below:
I’ve never seen the Tâmega River so still before! We ate at a restaurant that belonged to the campground, and the walk along the river showed it as a mirror for the houses on the riverbank.
For more photos of Amarante in other seasons, see the album that also has photos from January 2014 and April this year.
Album: Amarante, Portugal
August 19, 2017
Album: Amarante, Portugal
