A vision of old Portugal

[VNwalking]

Here's a lovely article about a part of Portugal that's close to Vidango — about 30 km away:

Snapshots of Daily Life in a Remote Region of Portugal

The Barroso is one of Portugal’s most isolated areas, known for its rough terrain, abiding agricultural traditions and stunning beauty.

www.nytimes.com

 

[celticone]

Thank you for posting this link as I would not normally find it. I recommend it and the comments that accompany it in NYT.
Having been brought up in a remote part of N Ireland before we had a wee tractor I can (in hindsight) appreciate the hard work involved in pre industrial subsistence farming.
Walking any Iberian Camino I often wish I had more knowledge of the growing systems, land use and water management we passed through so relatively quickly.
For some inspiration I have been reading HV Morton's Stranger In Spain - an account of his journey around Spain in the early 1950s.
Keep well everyone.

 

[VNwalking]

I have been reading HV Morton's Stranger In Spain

I just I just checked it out from the open Library, and it looks fantastic. Thank you for mentioning it — otherwise I would never have known.

 

[Colette Z]

Wonderful. Thank you!

 

[Rex]

Thanks for this article. After the Caminho in 2018, I began to realize how little of Portugal I knew -- history, culture, etc... My high school and college world history classes pretty much left it at Vasco de Gama and that was it for Portugal. I was the poorer for my lack of knowledge as I began this route, but have been making up for lost time in reading and getting to know this wonderful culture. Obrigado!

 

[Anne&Pat]

Here's a lovely article about a part of Portugal that's close to Vidango — about 30 km away:

Wonderful article, thank you very much for posting this. The photos are great.

 

[Pelegrin]

I liked the article, but if any Germanic I would mention the always forgotten Suebians instead of Visigoths.
And it is said on the article that "Tras os Montes"(behind the hills) is "old Portuguese" what always means that is current Galician.
I would like to know how is "Tras os Montes" in current Portuguese if there is a Portuguese speaker on the Forum.

 

[VNwalking]

I would like to know how is "Tras os Montes" in current Portuguese if there is a Portuguese speaker on the Forum.

@Albertinho ?

 

[jungleboy]

I would like to know how is "Tras os Montes" in current Portuguese if there is a Portuguese speaker on the Forum.

Atrás dos Montes. There is an explanation of the etymology (in Portuguese) here.

 

[Pelegrin]

Atrás dos Montes. There is an explanation of the etymology (in Portuguese) here.

Thanks @jungleboy. In Galician is more used Trás than Atrás. To name a place it is said "Trás os" or "Tralos".
In the article ," trallos" reveals an asturleones influence (I think). There is an asturleones language called Mirandes in Miranda do Douro (Tras os Montes).

 

[Terry Callery]

Great Article!!!!
The Maine fishing village of Friendship is similarly isolated and "traditional".
Just the next town over on this peninsula.
40 lobstermen (and a few women!) work out of the harbor.
The accents are like listening to someone from 1850 ---working on a Nantucket Whale boat!!!!
It is somewhat of a closed society - takes 40 years for them to warm up to an "outsidaaah"
"Numb as a hake"
"Just chaffing for a beer"
"Finest Kind"
Language all their own -


I went to the ethnographic museum is Grandas de Salime and view the old "traditions"
From their website:
The Ethnographic Museum of Grandas de Salime is a local public museum, whose mission is to gather, guard, conserve, increase, investigate, communicate and disseminate the tangible and intangible ethnographic heritage of the communities of Western Asturias.
This is on the Primitivo Route isolated in the Cantebrian Mountains.

 

[Holly Mitchem]

Wonderful article and photographs. Thanks for posting.

 

[WalkingJane]

Here's a lovely article about a part of Portugal that's close to Vidango — about 30 km away:

Snapshots of Daily Life in a Remote Region of Portugal

The Barroso is one of Portugal’s most isolated areas, known for its rough terrain, abiding agricultural traditions and stunning beauty.

www.nytimes.com

Brings "saudades" for remnants of a way of life we found in some areas, when visiting the Portuguese island of Faial in the early 70s. Such a deep connection to the land, and sense of community....

 

[Raggy]

There's gold in them there hills. The Trás os Montes region has Europe's most significant Lithium deposits:

The curse of 'white oil': electric vehicles' dirty secret

The long read: The race is on to find a steady source of lithium, a key component in rechargeable electric car batteries. But while the EU focuses on emissions, the lithium gold rush threatens environmental damage on an industrial scale

www.theguardian.com

In TV-land, the discovery of a valuable natural resource (black gold, Texas tea ...) made the Beverly Hillbillies a very happy family but I am sorry to say that in the real world, a big dirty mine rarely seems to benefit the local ecology or community.