In Love With Centro...
'Small World' The Carlow Nationalist - April 2010
Nestled on a hilltop in the virtually undiscovered Portuguese region of Centro, - just ninety minutes north of Lisbon - there is an air of youth about the city of Coimbra which belies the antiquity of its butter-coloured stone buildings.
In the courtyard behind the ancient university's Sala Grande dos Actos – where the fading portraits of Portugal's past monarchs look down on the benches of the Dons – a student couple gaze deeply into each other's eyes. He is holding her hand, caressing it lightly in slow devoted movements. She in turn has no eyes for the first spring swallows arcing through the blue sky above the waters of the nearby Mondego river; for her, the world exists only in the eyes of her lover.
Coimbra is a city whose foundations are laid solidly on a story of undying love. A story to rival that of Romeo and Juliet or Anthony and Cleopatra in the long history of this romantic nation. A story which has fuelled the imaginations of writers, poets, artists and sculptors since its first telling and a story which has been sung by Fadistas the length and breadth of the country; the story of Pedro and Inés.
In the first third of the fourteenth century the nineteen year old Crown Prince, Pedro of Portugal, was joined in matrimony, and an alliance of nations to a sixteen year-old girl named Constance; the daughter of a cousin of the King of Castile. Through their union it was hoped a strong bond could be forged between the two bickering Iberian nations. Despite the best laid plans of those behind the alliance, fate, as is wont to do, took its own peculiar course. Pedro did not love Constance and never would, instead his heart was consumed by one of his wife's handmaidens; a Galician noblewoman, Inés Perez de Castro.
Their affair was scorned upon by those to whom it mattered and the four children she gave birth to outside of marriage brought the nations close to war. Despite this, Pedro vowed never to give up Inés, the love of his life. After the death of his wife Constance in 1355 Pedro refused to marry anyone but Inés; a woman who was not considered worthy of a seat on the sumptuous cushions of the Portuguese throne. Because of this, Pedro's father, King Afonso IV decided upon a course of action that would change the direction of Portugal's history and set hearts aflutter throughout the world.
Across the river from the hilltop seat of Coimbra's university, behind the now restored walls of the monastery of Santa Clara where Inés was housed, three assassins acted upon the King's wishes and brutally took her life. Pedro, consumed by rage rebelled against his father plunging the country into a bitter civil war. The war was short-lived and the pair negotiated a truce, however, Pedro was never to forgive his father for depriving him of his lover.
After the King's death Pedro assumed the throne and declared he had secretly married Inés making her the rightful queen and their children the rightful heirs. Although the nobility had only the King's word for this marriage Pedro exhumed Inés' body and made them swear loyalty to her memory as the one true Queen. In the Monastery of Alcobaça Pedro re-buried his darling Inés, where he too would eventually be buried. The tombs of the lovers face each from across the monastery; where on judgement day they will both rise to greet each other and re-ignite a love that has spanned even the bridge of death.
But love in the Centro region reaches beyond matters of the heart. Stretching between the mountains and the sea the rolling countryside bears witness to another great love, the love of food, wine and a balanced quality of life. As a gastronomic getaway Centro will capture the hearts (and stomachs) of its visitors with its native foods. From steaming dishes of mixed seafood and grilled meats to the national icon of bacalhau - dried cod whose appearance in each new dish is always as delicious as it is inventive – Centro offers a world of delights.
The wines of the region are a creation of love and pride as is the architecture which house their production. Set on a hillside near the town of Malaposta, the wooden, barrel-shaped winery of Quinta do Encontro surveys its landscape of vineyards and calls the followers of Bacchus to its tables. This Dão winery offers some of Portugal's best wines; fruity reds for younger drinking, fresh, dry whites and deeper more flavoursome reds which retain their fruitiness with age. Centro is a wine lovers paradise.
For
lovers of history and natural beauty the area is also the gateway to a land of
castles and mountain fortresses set amongst idyllic hillside villages where
life continues unchanged in centuries. The luxurious chain of national historic
hotels - Pousadas - which dot the region offer luxury of opulent proportions in
breathtaking settings at affordable prices.
The inhabitants of Centro are a friendly and welcoming people. In every ancient hotel, restaurant and coffee shop service is offered with an air of national pride and grace. A smile is always waiting to greet each new visitor and the sound of Portugal's native song with its origins in the region, the Fado, is never far away.
Centro is for lovers. Lovers of life and all the best qualities it has to offer. In the gardens of Coimbra's Quinta das Lágrimas, as the sun set peach-coloured over the city's red-tiled roofs and the sonorous tones of a Fado trio mixed with the gentle warble of flowing water, I could feel the love infused in this land. I had fallen in love and I would return.
• Aer Lingus fly daily to Lisbon from Dublin.
Staying There:
• Hotel Tivoli Coimbra**** R. João Machado, 4/5, 3000 - 226 Coimbra. Ph: +351 239 858 300. Email: htcoimbra@tivolihotels.com Web: www.tivolicoimbra.com
• Pousada de Viseu - Rua do Hospital, 3500 - 161 Viseu. Ph: +351 232 457 320. Email: guest@pousadas.pt Web: www.pousadas.pt
• Hotel Quinta Das Lágrimas**** Rua António Augusto Gonçalves, Santa Clara, Apartado, 5053 3 041- 901 Coimbra. Tel: +351 239 802 380. Email: geral@quintasdaslagrimas.pt Web: www.quintasdaslagrimas.pt
Eating There:
• Restaurante "A Portuguesa". Parque Verde do Mondego, Av. da Lousa, 3 030 - 476 Coimbra. Tel: +351 231 527 155.
• Quinta do Encontro. Apartado 246, S. Lourenço do Bairro, 3781 - 907 Anadia. Tel: +351 231 527 155. Email: daosul@daosul.com Web: www.daosul.com
• Hotel Casa da Insua***** 3500 - 126 Penalva do Castelo. Tel: +351 232 642 222. Email: casadainsua@visabeiraturismo.com Web: www.casadainsua.pt
• Repasto do Evaristo. Casal da Estrada 3150 - 277, Sebal 239945663 Web: www.orepastodoevaristo.pt
Tourist Information:
www.visitcentro.pt
www.visitcentrodeportugal.blogspot.com
www.portugalglobal.pt
Follow Centro on:
www.twitter.com/aboutcentro
www.delicious.com/aboutcentro