Minho is situated in the north-west corner of Portugal
next to the frontier with the Galician province of Spain.
It is often called 'Green Minho' because of its green
forests and cultivated valleys.
Small houses are dotted around the lush landscape, surrounded
by fields too small for a tractor to work them. Connecting
these fields are granite set tracks which often have grape
vines growing overhead. Liberally scattered around are
the great houses of the past, of which nearly all have
been beautifully restored. Beautiful
rivers come into this region from Spain. The river Lima
has the towns of Ponte de Barca, Ponte de Lima and Viana
do Castelo on its banks. Another
river is the Minho river which forms the northern border
with Spain. Again there are interesting old towers along
its banks including the fortified border town of Valença.
The fort which encloses the town was built to keep out
the Spanish but nowadays their trade is so welcomed that
everything is priced in both currencies. Near here, at
Ponte de Mouro, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster met with
King João to ratify the Treaty of Windsor and arrange
for the wedding of his daughter, Phillipa.
The southern border of the region is another beautiful
river the Douro. Again the riverbanks are terraced vineyards
leading down to the water. The wine from the 'quintas'
on the upper reaches of this river is used to make the
famous Port Wine. The
river valleys of this area of Portugal used to be the
favourite place for the wealthy to build their manor houses.
Today Princes, Prime Ministers and many others come to
enjoy the Portuguese hospitality in these houses. Very
affordable prices also allow others to also enjoy the
area and lifestyle. Nowadays
many Minhotos and Galegos would like the regions of Galicia
and Minho to split from their respective countries and
form a separate Celtic state joined by their culture and
language. Minho
also boasts the only National Park in Portugal with international
status. Here there are the traditional hill farms and
way of life. The cattle live under the houses and those
which do go out grazing have to be indoors each night
because of the Iberian wolf. Often the work of the village
is on a communal basis and money is not a necessity (although
all nowadays have a bank account to collect the ECU's
from the common market agricultural subsidy. Access
to modern society, thanks to common market projects of
roads and electricity, means that the way of life of these
villages will be finished in a few years time and it is
recommended that all those interested should not delay
a visit. Already it is becoming hard to find a water mill
still working or a house without a chimney so that the
hams could smoke in the kitchen. |
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