Discovering Portugal 🇵🇹 Vila Real District

The Corgo passadiços with a length of 2.5 km, a large part of them run along wooden walkways, the route runs close to the urban center of Vila Real and on the banks of the Corgo, one of the rivers that runs through the city of Trás- os-Montes (the other is Cabril). The route, which reveals the nature that surrounds the city in all its splendor, runs between the Ferreiros neighborhood and Vila Velha and takes the visitor through structures of interest to discover, such as the Biel Hydroelectric Power Plant. It is worth remembering that the Central do Biel, the first hydroelectric plant in the national territory, is currently in the process of museumization with a view to transforming it into a tourist attraction space. This is the first phase of the Natural Routes of Corgo Park project, with a total of 11 km, which connects Corgo Park with Vila Velha and, with the complete completion of the work, the union of this area with the Botanical Garden of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Duero. The Santuario da Nissa Senhora da Graça is located on the top of Mount Farinha, overlooking Mondim de Basto, about 990 meters above sea level. Nestled in a landscape of great beauty and surrounded by the Serra do Alvão, it is a place of reference on a historical, archaeological, religious and even sporting level. Devotion to Our Lady of Grace attracts thousands of pilgrims to the sanctuary every year, mainly on its three official festivals: the Ascension, the last Sunday of May, the centenary Pilgrimage of Santiago, which is lost in the memory of time, on the 25th. of July (already referenced around 1500) and the great Annual Pilgrimage on the first Sunday of September, presided over by the bishop of Vila Real. In terms of architecture, the Baroque Sanctuary has a quadrangular bell tower and a centralized octagonal nave and rectangular chancel and sacristy. Inside, there are covered domes and barrel vaults, made of granite, with a high stone choir on a lowered arch, two side pulpits with a stone base and wooden guard, with access from inside the walls, two collateral altarpieces and the carved headboard. . polychrome, rococo. The “Baloiço dos Caretas” located in Vilar de Ferreiros (Mondim de Basto), with an excellent panoramic view of the Sra da Graça and the Basto region.