The Lima valley

PONTE DE LIMA – 23km east of Viana do Castelo – is a delightful place, whose pedestrianized old centre has no specific attraction other than its air of sleepy indifference to the wider world. Its lovely riverside gardens and local walks make it a great place for a night or two’s stopover. It only really gets vaguely busy in July or August, when it attracts a fair flow of tourists, a phenomenon that the local authorities have tried to capitalize on by building a nearby eighteen-hole golf course. Otherwise, lively times include the town’s bi-monthly Monday market, the oldest in Portugal, held since a charter was first granted in 1125 on the river’s wide sandbank beaches. A ramshackle collection of items is on sale, from mobile phone accessories to trussed chickens. Also held here is the “New Fair” (second and third weekend of Sept), a festival seemingly attended by half of the Minho, with fireworks, fairground rides, gigantones (enormous carnivalesque statues), and a brass band competition. More tradition is on display in early June, with the Vaca das Cordas festival, while the Expo Lima exhibition centre, on the east of the river, has various events throughout the year including a wine fair.

From Ponte de Lima, the N203 runs 18km east to PONTE DA BARCA, a smaller version of Ponte de Lima. There’s not a lot to do here, but it’s an attractive if sedate base from which to reach the northern stretches of the Parque Natural de Peneda-Gerês. The Barca part of its name refers to a boat that once ferried pilgrims across the Rio Lima, before the bridge was built. Nowadays the Lima is spanned by a lovely sixteenth-century bridge, beside which is the shaded Jardim dos Poetas, dedicated to sixteenth-century brothers Diogo Bernardes and Agostinho da Cruz, monastic poets who were born in the town – their statue is situated at one end of the square.

The best time to come to Ponte da Barca is for the superb fortnightly Wednesday market (it alternates with Arcos de Valdevez), spreading out by the river by the bridge and drawing hundreds of people from outlying hamlets. The only other time the town becomes animated is for the annual Feira de São Bartolomeu, which takes place on August 19–24, with the big day on August 24; don’t expect to get any sleep once the party starts.

The Rio Vez, a tributary of the Minho, is overlooked by the hillside town of ARCOS DE VALDEVEZ, 5km north of Ponte da Barca, another useful point of departure for the Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês. With its pedestrianized centre it makes an attractive and lively base, especially during the fortnightly Wednesday market, held to the southwest of town near the river.

The old town stretches uphill beyond the old bridge across the Rio Vez. A seventeenth-century fire destroyed many of its older buildings, though a few survivors are worth seeking out: the Baroque Igreja da Lapa, on Largo da Lapa, and – just to the south – the Capela da Nossa Senhora da Conceição which features Manueline carving and an early fifteenth-century relief. Look out, too, for the unusual spiral Manueline pillory in the Praça Municipal. The town also wraps round neat riverside gardens – there are some lovely walks along here as well as a river beach, where young people cool off in the river in summer.

Try and coincide a visit with the three-day Festas do Concelho, held over the second week in August, featuring giant figures, red-caped drummers, horse races and fireworks.

The River Lima flows from the mountains of the magnificent Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês which divides into three distinct regions. You can easily visit the bulk of the central area from the main resort, the spa town of Caldas do Gerês or from the lakeside Campo do Gerês. Caldas do Gerês (aka Vila do Gerês), a mountain village spectacularly sited in a densely wooded valley, consists of little more than a one-way system running either side of a babbling brook and, weekends aside, when Portuguese picnickers arrive en masse, it’s a relaxed base from which to explore the surrounding peaks and woodlands.

Waymarked trails and paths cover large areas of the park and there are dozens of hiking opportunities, from short strolls to day treks across whole sections of the park. Though you can tour a fair bit of the park in a day or two, give yourself a good two days for each section if you want to make the most of excellent walks.