Portugal's great green valley

[Photo: Charles Ridgway] Mistaken by the author for the estate house’s front door, this is actually the entry to the private chapel.

By CHARLES RIDGWAY
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 16, 2002

A twist of fate sends an astonished tourist to the Valley of Lima, home of verdant vegetation, huge produce and lodgings fit for a count at bargain rates.

PONTE DE LIMA, Portugal -- Dumb luck and maddening city traffic pushed me out of my hotel in Portugal's designated "cultural capital" of Oporto and into an elegant mansion fit for a count (one owns it) and the greenest, most placid vacation spot I have found.

The locale is centuries-old Ponte de Lima, in northern Portugal's Lima River Valley. Hillside grape vines grow an astonishing 10 to 12 feet high on rustic wood or iron trellises. The vineyards surround fields in which cabbages reach 6 feet around. Both roads and hiking trails seem to disappear among the tall vines.

The steep hillsides are topped by windbreaks of cedar and pine. Red-tiled roofs on white stucco farmhouses punctuate the regular pattern of verdant squares. In the sunshine of a hot June day, the landscape looked like it was planned by a master architect and painted with Day-Glo green.

Even food and wine follow the trend to green. The cabbages frequently are used for caldo verde, a regional soup. The big-leaf Alvarinho grapes produce vinho verde (green wine) that actually comes in both red or white varieties.

Vignobles Burgundy look like Munchkin vineyards compared to the fields of Lima Valley. I learned the grapes here are harvested from wooden ladders.

Lima Valley was the highlight of a three-week journey of surprises as I drove alone from Madrid to Lisbon. Without knowing, I followed Europe's most famous Christian pilgrim paths, the Way of St. James, Spain's patron saint.

Located in the remote northwest corner of Portugal, Lima Valley is part of the Minho province, rich in cultural and religious history, folklore, hearty food and natural beauty. The region is often called the Costa Verde (Green Coast), and the Minho River Valley on the Spanish border to the north seemed gray by comparison.

In the town of Ponte de Lima, there are no strip malls or supermarkets, no Best Westerns or Sheratons. But the lovely town does have fascinating legends, an 1,800-year-old Roman bridge and the most spectacular golf course I have hacked my way around in at least 15 countries.

The area also offers tennis, horseback riding, canoeing on the broad river and hiking on beautiful trails and the ancient pilgrimage paths. The only obvious industry is the town's Adega co-op winery, which offers tours to visitors.

The region can be foggy and rainy in the winter, but in June when I arrived, it was sunny and unusually hot, though not oppressive to a Floridian.

At home with the count

The area boasts about 55 elegant mansions and historic private homes and farmhouses that offer lodging for travelers. For my unplanned stay I managed to pick a fine one, Pago de Calheiros. The count of Calheiros himself took the reservation call. The count happens to be a founder of Turihab.

My visit to the town was accidental. I decided the day before -- after a maddening search in traffic for my hotel in Oporto -- to cut my planned stay there to a single night. In my files I found a 5-year-old newspaper clipping about the Minho region and decided to head there.

Even when I arrived at the iron-gated driveway of Pago de Calheiros, I wasn't sure I had the right solar (manor house). Beyond stone pillars was a 200-yard driveway lined by giant magnolia trees, creating a deep-shade tunnel. All I could see at the other end was a tiny part of a church-like facade -- no "hotel" sign, neon or otherwise.

I drove up and parked. At the center of the mansion was a large, double door, with an ornate stone lentil flanked by granite walls and sets of stone stairs leading up right or left. A belfry stood atop the red tiled roof.

In the door was a key the size of a hammer. I turned it and walked in. It appeared to be a tiny private chapel. I backed out. Then a young fellow sauntered across the courtyard to greet me and lead me up the stairs to a tiny office -- with a computer.

"Sign in and let me show you to your room," the man said. "You will meet the count tonight."

He then led me through a chandeliered dining room, family room and darkened hallway past ancestral portraits, to the guest rooms.

Mine, large by hotel standards, was furnished with a 19th-century poster bed and dresser. Despite a 95-degree day, the thick, granite walls and nearly closed shutters kept the room comfortably cool without air-conditioning.

The spacious, wood-paneled bathroom was thoroughly modern, with recessed halogen lights shining on white porcelain.

Before dinner I walked around the manor, past an arch of climbing roses, a shady arbor of giant grapevines leading down the slope and a beautiful view of the count's "garden." It began with a tiny blue pool and fountain surrounded by flowering plants and ran for thousands of yards downhill through the vineyards and vegetable fields and across the valley to a line of aqua-misted hills.

A British couple, having tea on the lawn, chatted with me as we stared in awe across the valley. The British have been coming to the region since they began buying wine in nearby ports nearly 500 years ago. That means many local people speak enough English to help tourists like me.

But I didn't meet Francisco, Conde de Calheiros, until early the next morning when I was descending the stone stairs headed for the Ponte de Lima golf course. Still dressed in pajamas, with black hair slightly tousled, he leaned out of his second story window for a casual discussion about the beautiful sunny morning, my golfing plans and a tour of the manor later.

"They will leave a pull cart behind the clubhouse so you can begin at seven," my manor-house greeter reported to me after arranging my tee time. "But play the back nine first -- it is less mountainous. When you make the turn, someone will be there to provide an electric cart."

It turned out to be a good plan, spectacular day and an awesome course -- fairways sweeping up the steep hillsides with views over the vineyards and across the lush valley to the ocean, 10 miles away.

The back nine was tough but walkable. On the front nine I teamed with a pair of locals as we played past vineyards and forests, up and down the slopes. They walked, but I needed that electric cart. Enough English was spoken to smooth the conversation.

This golf course, at 6,500 yards, is challenging without being too frustrating for a high-handicapper. For instance, the monstrous par-5 third hole measures 674 yards, and it is more than 200 yards from tee to the first narrow patch of fairways.

Count Francisco explained during a tour of his mansion later that day that he began rebuilding his home 20 years ago. By then, he said, "My father was quite old and the house had been allowed to run down."

While elegant, the manor is comfortably casual, like the count.

He turned on lights so I could see the chapel I had stumbled into on my arrival. "Notice there is no gilt but just rich natural wood carvings, which my father loved," he said, pointing to an ornate sanctuary wall. The two-story chapel is taller than it is wide.

The Calheiros family has owned the manor and the land around by royal decree since it was granted by the king in 1336. The eldest son inherits the estate, and he was now my host and lord of the manor, Francisco Jacome e Menezes.

Guest facilities include a swimming pool, tennis courts, nine guest rooms in the manor and five split-level suites in converted stables. With current exchange rates, it was a real bargain, along with the rest of Portugal. My two-night stay, with one continental breakfast (I was busy golfing the other morning) totaled $112.73.

The ancient bridge

Ponte de Lima is a village of just 3,000 people. It is seldom crowded with tourists except during festivals. While the Minho region contains about 23 percent of Portugal's people on only 8 percent of the land, most residents live on farms instead of in towns.

Ponte de Lima has winding streets and centuries-old stone fountains. Buildings painted white and brown feature heavy stone trim around doors and windows. Utility lines are buried to preserve the village's historic look.

Where fortress walls once stood, only the ancient Roman granite bridge and a crenellated tower on the waterfront remain. The bridge from which the village takes its name is still the visual center of attention for most visitors.

Three of the 27 stone arches are originals from the days of Roman occupation; the rest were new 400 years ago. The bridge was part of the Way of St. James leading to the shrine of Spain's patron saint 100 miles to the north.

The bridge is also at the site where the village's most famous legend originated. When Rome's legions arrived for the first time, the legend goes, they thought the river was so beautiful that it must be the "River of Forgetfulness."

The soldiers refused to cross, fearing they would never be seen again. The legend says their commander, Proconsul Decimus Junius Brutus, waded across the river, which is shallow during the dry season with many sandbars. He taunted his troops until they were too ashamed not to follow.

I missed one of the town's claims to fame, Portugal's oldest street market (founded in 1125). It is held twice monthly under striped tents sprawled along an esplanade of trees overlooking the Lima. Everything from wine barrels to plows to hard-crusted bread is sold, and carpenters, cobblers and goldsmiths demonstrate their crafts. Vendors often wear traditional peasant attire.

I may have missed the market, but I stumbled into a marvelous vacation destination I hope to revisit.

If you go

GETTING THERE: The town of Ponte de Lima is about 200 miles north of Lisbon; the nearest large town is Viana do Castelo, on the Atlantic coast. The cathedral city of Braga is about 20 miles to the south. Rental cars are available in Lisbon, Oporto or Braga. High-speed rail lines connect those cities with bus service to smaller towns.

STAYING THERE: Many of the historic sites offering accommodations belong to TURIHAB, the Turismo de Habitacao. Established in 1983, it has registered more than 90 solares throughout Portugal. Pago de Calheiros is 3 miles northeast of Ponte de Lima, in the parish of Santa Eufemia de Calheiros.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: The country code for Portugal is 351. The phone number for TURIHAB is 258 741672; the fax is 258 741444; the Web site is http://www.turihab.pt/ The phone for the Paco de Calheiros is 258 947164; the fax is 258 947294.

Or contact the Portuguese National tourist Office, 590 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10036; (212) 354-4403; fax (212) 764-6137; www.portugal-insite.pt.

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