Discover all the history, landscape and gastronomy of this beautiful village of Tabuaço, located in the heart of the Douro Region.
TRAVEL WITHIN THE VILLAGE
Anyone who wants to get to know the village better can see it from a high place. And it has two privileged viewpoints to do so. The Viewpoint of Fraga do Tostão or Nossa Senhora da Conceição, next to the road that goes up to Chavães, or the Viewpoint of Monte da Escrita, on the road that goes up to Vale de Figueira.
The entire village can be seen, from the top, stretched out over the tops of Calvário, the Church yard or the Arrabalde de S. Vicente, in a modern urban fabric that leans against the mountains.
R. ANTÓNIO JOSÉ DE ALMEIDA
The trip can start at the Calvary site. This space, shaded by large cedars, traveled by small paths, was named Parque Abel Botelho. It is a pleasant place to walk and from it you can see, as from a balcony, the succession of the Alto Douro and Trás-os-Montes mountains.
To the south and west stretches, like an invincible wall, the Serra do Pedregal, where, for a thousand years, stone has been torn from buildings.
Ao descer do Parque, logo no topo norte da Avenida Marechal Carmona, fica a Capela de Santa Bárbara, encostada ao Cemitério. Dali desce a Rua 1º de Dezembro, uma tranquila fila de residências; com a sobriedade de dois pisos e a estrutura de duas portas, uma larga, outra estreita, algumas delas lembram casas de judiaria antiga e foram organizadas para o comércio e a vida de família.
On the right there are several streets that, cut here and there, define the orthogonal layout of this most recent part of the village. First, Rua António José de Almeida, followed by Rua Abel Barradas and Rua Conde Ferreira. So, 1st Street. December leads to the extensive but tight Largo 5 de Outubro, which is the Churchyard of the Igreja Matriz. In the center we find a small cruise ship, perhaps on the site of the old lost pillory.
IGREJA MATRIZ DE TABUAÇO
The visitor can now enter the Igreja Matriz, of Romanesque origin. It is interesting to note its façade, the two bell tower and the rich Baroque altarpiece in the chancel. Inside the Church, the altars dedicated to Nª. Srª. da Graça, Nª. Srª. das Dores, Christ Crucified and the Lord of the Steps.
On the ceiling of the chancel, we find 28 coffers, painted with scenes from the life of the Virgin and Christ the Child; in the main nave, there are eighty painted coffers with images of the life of Christ and some saints.
Returning to the Adro, take a look at the beautiful wooden balcony as you descend to Rua Costa da Fonte, which opens to the south over the so-called Fundo de Vila.
FUNDO DE VILA
Largo do Dr. Albano T. S. Sousa, an airy space suitable for socializing, is also a hub for the articulation of immense people and car traffic between the main arteries of the town.
On the corner between Rua Costa da Fonte and Rua Gomes Mota, a harmonious 18th-century provincial manor house shows the delicacy of baroque work on the apron windows. Rua Gomes Mota opens onto Largo Dr. Victor Macedo Pinto, a tribute to one of the men from the most distinguished families in Tabuaço.
From here, ancient trails started and the medieval path that crosses the River Távora, at the bottom of the valley, took the ancient people to the Além-Douro. This street, which in the meantime is called Rua Eduardo Osório, leads to the small neighborhood of S. Vicente, born around the chapel of this saint, which has been worshiped there since the 16th century XV or XVI.
We propose a return along the same path, along Rua de S. Vicente, to Travessa das Ameixoeiras where you can see, almost around the corner, the house where diplomat and writer Abel Botelho (1856 – 1917), a notable figure, was born of Tabuaço. The house, much changed by the time, shows, as residues of eighteenth-century architecture, the frame of the doors and two apron windows.
Ahead is Largo do Terreiro, where the noble façade of an imposing 18th-century manor house opens. The view over the Douro, taken from the Terreiro or from the manor's tall windows, is superb.
TABUAÇO CITY COUNCIL
From Largo do Terreiro, go up Rua da Calçada to the churchyard, through Largo 5 de Outubro and from here, turn left, along R. Conde Ferreira, to Jardim Conde Ferreira. In an environment of great tranquility, we can visit the Municipal Tourism Gallery, a space for information and occasional cultural events.
After the garden, we find Rua Macedo Pinto, where the old Macedo Pinto School recalls the old family's interest in education. This road crosses Rua António José de Almeida where, right there on the left, stands the City Council of Tabuaço, built in 1913, and characterized by a sober elegance.
Next to the city council building, they recently built the modern building of the Palace of Justice.
LUIS DE FREITAS THEATER
Going up Rua Macedo Pinto, we are on Avenida Marechal Carmona, at the end of which stands the old building of Teatro Luís de Freitas, a kind of Paradise Cinema that we like to look at.
At the other extreme, we see the always poetic Santa Bárbara chapel and the Abel Botelho Park, which offers the traveler a refreshing shade and the impressive strength of the Douro landscape, which is once again seen in all its plenitude. And so the journey inside the village ends.
VIEW OF THE VIEWPOINT
An interesting challenge to complete this route is to climb the Miradouro da Fraga do Tostão, at the end of the day, to see the shadow of the mountain spread over the red roofs of the houses. The whiteness of Tabuaço outlines its silhouette over stairs of vineyards, gardens, vegetable gardens and orchards. The mountain, from behind, rises majestically.
Those who have the courage of the old walkers can go out on the road, attentive, to Fradinho. And they will also feel the same emotion as the characters that Abel Botelho immortalized in his book Mulheres da Beira, at the beginning of the century.
FIGUEIRA VALLEY
A 5 km drive from Tabuaço, we can find Vale de Figueira, a small Beira village half sunk in the valley between pine forests, divided between rye fields, vegetable gardens and orchards.
Here we can visit the Igreja Matriz, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Apresentação, from the end of the century XVII, and its carved altarpiece from the beginning of the century. XIX.
At the Santa Maria Fountain, women can be seen talking at the end of the afternoon. In another fountain with an old spout, facing the road (Rua Nova), we are faced with the face of a man modeled countless years ago by a local flowerbed.
Worthy of note is also the Cruzeiro dos Centenários.
It is worth climbing the road loops that reveal surprising landscapes at every moment. Even more spectacular is the one that can be harvested from the Alto da Escrita Viewpoint, 2.5 km away. Then there is Beira full, with broom, pine forest, rocks, some Alminhas on a hillock and the peacefulness of the biblical village.
Source: Tabuaço City Council
