Page 212 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Portugal

Santuário da Nossa Senhora
da Lapa. The story tells of a INSIDER TIP
Ghost Village
Did You Know? mute shepherd girl, Joana, Explore Marialva, 14 km
who found a statue of the
Virgin Mary on a great boulder (9 miles) northeast of
The local Serra cheese –
made from ewe’s milk – and took it home. Irritated, Trancoso – an eerily
abandoned village
is at its tastiest when her mother threw it on the where tumble down
it turns runny. fire, at which moment the ruins of the houses, hall
child miraculously spoke:
EXPERIENCE The Beiras 20 “It is the Senhora da Lapa.” A citadel. It is a mystery
and prison are all that
“Don’t burn it,” cried Joana.
remain of the medieval
chapel was built to enshrine
why the area was deser­
the boulder, and the image
ted. No battle destroyed
looks down from a recess.
it; it seems merely to
Sernancelhe
The castle at Penedono is
have been abandoned
captivating. In the middle of
! F2 @ n Town hall;
254 550 030
more fruitful lands.
northeast of Sernancelhe, it
has survived since at least the
Whitewashed houses cluster this small town 17 km (11 miles) as townsfolk moved to
around the granite heart of 10th century.
this modest Beira town. In famous Serra cheese. From
Praça da República stands the Santuário da Nossa November to February a
Romanesque Igreja Matriz. The Senhora da Lapa cheese market is held in the
granite statues in its façade ⌂ Quintela da Lapa, 11 km Praça Municipal, and there is
niches, survivors from the (7 miles) SW of Sernancelhe a cheese fair every February.
12th century, flank a notable § 232 688 993 # Daily Around Rua Fernão Pacheco,
arched portal embellished by running from the main road
a semicircle of carved angels. up to the castle, is the old
The grandest house here is the 21 centre of Celorico, which is
Baroque Solar dos Carvalhos manifested in a cluster of
behind the church. Long and Celorico da Beira granite houses with Manueline
low, with carved granite portals ! F3 £ @ n Rua Sacadura windows and Gothic doors.
against whitewashed walls, it is Cabral; 271 742 109 Of the 10th-century castle,
where the local noble family battered by a long succession
lived in the 18th century. In the lee of the Serra da of frontier disputes with
In the Serra da Lapa rising Estrela, the pastures around Spain, only a tower and the
to the south of Sernancelhe, Celorico da Beira have long outer walls remain. Its stark
stands a shrine known as the been a source of the region’s silhouette is less dramatic
at close quarters. The Igreja
Matriz, which was restored
in the 18th century, has a
painted coffered ceiling.
During the Peninsular War,

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