2- WEEK 1: History in Amarante

We woke up early as we had slept on the plane and were not very tired and were faced with the humidity in the morning so this was the view we had.

We had breakfast at the Casa de Juventude where there was a variety of jams and cereals. We went with Marcelo on a tour of Amarante to learn about its history and the first stop we made was the bridge of São Gonçalo.

After the father São Gonçalo returned from travelling around the world he realised that Amarante was too small to cross the river so they built a small wooden bridge which unfortunately the river with its great flow destroyed so they had to build the current one higher and made of stone.

Our next stop was the church of São Gonçalo where Napoleon's soldiers hid and after their defeat burnt the village to the ground but the village has been recovering its former splendour but still has some left.

In the first image we find the tomb of São Gonçalo where it is said that his remains rest inside the coffin.

In the central image we can find the old men's monastery where there were mothers who gave their babies to have a better life than the one they would have with them. And recently a small underground path has been found which is believed to have linked the male monastery with the female monastery located a few metres away.

And finally in the last image we can see the inside of the church, people came to ask Father São Gonçalo for luck in love and if they paid they found them a partner and then the demons of Amarante (we will see them in the museum soon) were asked for sexual relations.

On the outside of the church we can find different statues with different meanings such as the first image that represents the four kings that existed while the church was being built, the last one being Philip III, who was beheaded by the Portuguese and from then on Portugal became a republic.

In the third image we can see the representation of São Gonçalo who after his journey around the world in each place is known for different reasons but in Amarante he is known for the bridge and for being a matchmaker.

And so it was our day of history of Amarante, I hope you learned and liked it as much as we did!