Gerês to Lamego to Lousã

From Geres (far northern Portugal) we headed south toward the Douro River area.  We reserved a room in the small city of Lamego.

On the drive down we made a stop in Cabaceiras de Basto to check out the Mosteiro de Säo Miguel de Refojos.  Although the monastery has been in existence since the early 12th century, the current buildings date from the mid 18th.  The church is large and very ornate inside.  Check out these characters holding up one section of the pipe organ.

We arrived in Lamego early afternoon and set out to explore a bit of the town.  Most of the museums and other tourist sites were closed on Monday but we enjoyed walking around the old city.  We discovered that one of the Portuguese Caminos passes through here (in fact, it passed right in front of our apartment).  Although there is some tourism in Lamego, it is quite limited and the town very much retains its own character.

We stumbled on an old church, Nossa Sra da Esperança, dating from the late 16th century.  The small building was quite decrepit outside, the inside not much better.  But it was beautifully decorated with tiles and a ceiling completely covered with paintings on the wood panels (unfortunately quite faded).

Next day we set off to explore more of Lamego.  After breakfast we started with the climb (686 steps up a Baroque staircase) to the Sanctuary Nuestra Senora dos Remedios.

This plant has been here a while.

Statues of Portuguese kings.  Looks like they're dancing to us.

After descending we headed up to the old city to check out the castle and a nearby water cistern.  The cistern (13th-14 centuries) is fascinating: like a windowless cathedral built mostly underground.  It was built to collect water draining in from the nearby neighborhood, and has two access points at the top where residents could lower buckets to draw out water.  It's possible to descend steps into the now mostly empty cistern.  The markings on stones were made by the masons to show they had crafted and laid those blocks; this was how they showed their work to be paid.

The castle was originally Moorish.  Great view of the surrounding countryside and nearby vineyards.

On the drive from Lamego to Lousã we detoured to the Convento Santa Cruz do Buçaco and the adjoining Palace Hotel.  A somewhat incongruous juxtaposition: the austere early 17th century convent literally abuts a much more recent (late 19th century) very ornate and elegant hotel.

We arrived in Lousa late in the afternoon and blasted over to the tourist office to get maps and information for the next day's hiking.