Viseu, Serra da Estrela: Central Portugal, Old and New
Portugal has surprises around every corner. We pull up to a place and inside, we are dazzled by some piece of artwork, or an intricate garden, or something built so long ago and done so perfectly it makes you want to weep with admiration.
Central Portugal, Forgotten by Some, Cherished by Others
Today’s destination in central Portugal was Serra da Estrela, a region of mountains and vineyards in what is a lesser-known part of the country.
In the town of Viseu, we walked narrow streets of small black and white pavers to Cathedral Square, where there is a church and a cathedral facing one another. Here is the home of the Grao Vasco Museum, dedicated to one of the best Portuguese painters of the 16th century.
Guests enjoy gourmet meals and kids like it too! Simple yet very excellent food served at the mountain hotel. The fame and publicity go to the famous golf courses and golden beaches of the Algarve, or Lisbon, the dominant city with hip artists and chefs cooking in heralded kitchens.
But this middle part with its rolling hills and well-designed cities has been a delight to experience.
These buildings are striking because their architecture is so dramatic, accented blacks and whites and very distinct shapes in the turrets and crenellations of the high building. Next to a big city square, beautiful tiles decorate a wall beneath a city street. When do you see blue tiles on a public street? In Viseu, of course.
Later on lunched at a restaurant in a section of the city with office buildings, it was not the old part but the food was traditional and substantial–veal cooked til it was falling off the bone in the oven, and a typical steak frites, simple and very good.
The local Dao wines were perfect accompaniments to the hearty fare. Then we drove out of town to Serra da Estrela, to the 1780 manor house Hotel Casa da Insua. It could have been a simple hotel tour, but this old house was a palace with the kinds of details that anyone who appreciates classic architecture and history would appreciate.
One room was filled with paintings of the master of the house, Luis de Albuquerque de Mello Perpiera e Caceres, once a governor of Brazil back in the day. It’s still owned by his descendants and features a cheese factory, elaborate English and French gardens, and a large swath of vineyards and apple orchards, complete with grazing sheep who keep the orchards well fertilized.
A few highlights included a kitchen with a giant iron device for cleaning forks and an oven that could have cooked enough food for Portugal’s army. Guests can learn how to make cheese and how to keep their gardens as tidy as the ones at Casa da Insua–it takes six full-time gardeners to keep it all trimmed and perfectly in order.
Our day was not done, and we rode in our guide’s black Mercedes up, up, up from sea level to a dizzying 5000 feet. Our next stop was our next two night’s lodgings, the very modern Casa das Penhas Douradas in the Serra de Estrela preserve. This mountaintop hotel is as Scandinavian as anything I’ve seen in Sweden. Sleek birch wood walls, modern minimalist furniture, cozy wood stoves and skis adorning the walls.
It is owned by a couple from Lisbon and there are 18 rooms, each overlooking the view of the slope down to the next village. Guests can get massages, hike the 200 km of trails, enjoy a hot pool swim, or just chill out with strong wi-fi and a glass of wine or some of their strong coffee. Once again I revel in staying two nights–a little time to relax, catch up on work, and have nowhere to go until tomorrow at the luxurious departure time of 10:30.
We’ll tour the wool factory that the hotel owners run in the village of Mantiegas, where ancient machines make burel, a wool fabric used by make blankets, shepherd’s capes and other products. Oh, and my massage is scheduled for 6 o’clock. Find out more about Central Portugal