At the very core of Alto Minho lies Ponte da Barca. The name of this municipality derives from the boat (barca) that used to connect both banks of the Lima river. The boat would often carry pilgrims headed for Santiago de Compostela. The bridge (ponte) was built in the middle of the 15th century (1450). The town was then named São João de Ponte da Barca.
A rich and noble land, Ponte da Barca was to witness the birth of Diogo and Agostinho Bernardes in the 16th century: both brothers became poets who wrote hymns to this landscape, its fountains and to saudade (nostalgia) for it. Ponte da Barca is, though, also a sun-tanned town, carved in granite and teeming with 16th and 17th-century palace-like buildings comprising chapels and front walls that bear battlements and coats of arms. On the other hand, we shall not forget its Town Hall, the Pelourinho (stone pillory-like structure), the portico-shaped shelter, the Parish Church dedicated to São João Baptista that was designed by Vilalobos. Beside this historic-monumental heritage and in perfect harmony with it grows a new progress –aimed town, an captivating and modern Ponte da Barca.
Ponte da Barca is a region of contrasts: on the foreground, on the left, you will find Upper Lindoso dam (the biggest dam in the Iberian Peninsula) and next to it you can see the old rocky castle built by king Dom Afonso Henriques in the 12th century and rebuilt by king D. Dinis in 1278: look at its bastions and dungeon. Nearby stand the well-known espigueiros (buildings for storing ears of corn), the hermitage, the alminhas (niches portraying the souls in Purgatory), the cruzeiros (large stone crosses).
And then take a look at the ancient monastery of Bravães, one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Alto Minho. Stop to admire its west-faced main portico with its five archivolts decorated with figure and geometrical designs; on the side door look at the mystical sheep.
The municipality of Ponte da Barca is a perfect tourist destination: just think of lamprey fishing, hunting, river beaches, good restaurants and accommodation facilities, handicraft, folklore and excellent cuisine: papas de sarrabulho, chanfana de cabra à moda de Gemil, lamprey and the most exquisite and well-known white and red wines by the Adega Cooperativa de Ponte da Barca. If you add the most refined art of welcoming visitors to all these merits you will certainly conclude Ponte da Barca is the right choice as a holiday destination.
