Viana do Castelo

Overview

Viana do Castelo is where the Lima meets the Atlantic under a hill with a basilica on top, and the view from that basilica, down the river, over the roofs and along the beaches, is the best in the north. It is a port and shipbuilding town of 36,000 in the city, 86,000 in the municipality, chartered in 1258 by Afonso III, made a city by Maria II in 1848 and given its shipyards in 1944, and it is the capital of Portuguese gold: the filigree jewellery that Minho women wear at festivals is made here.

The town’s festival, the Romaria de Nossa Senhora da Agonia in August, is one of the largest and oldest religious festivals in Portugal, a fishermen’s devotion that goes back to 1744, when the town fills with costume, gold and processions. It is an hour from Porto on the Celta train to Vigo, and a stage on the coastal Camino to Santiago.

Neighbourhoods

The old town

The historic centre between the Praça da República, the cathedral and the river is pedestrianised, small and where everything is: the shops, the restaurants, the museums and the hotels. The Avenida dos Combatentes runs from the station down to the river through it, and the queue outside the Natário pastry shop on it is a local landmark.

The riverfront and Cabedelo

The dock, the marina, the Gil Eannes and the cultural centre are on the reclaimed riverfront south of the old town; across the Eiffel bridge, Cabedelo is the beach suburb of surf schools, pine woods and a campsite, reached by bus or a summer river taxi.

Santa Luzia

The hill above the town is the quiet quarter: the basilica, the pousada, the woods and the hill-fort, with the town’s lights below at night.

See & do

Santa Luzia

The basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Monte de Santa Luzia was built in 1903 in imitation of the Sacré-Cœur in Paris, and it is climbed for the view: from the terrace, or better from the top of the dome, the whole coast lies below. Behind it are the excavated remains of the Iron Age hill fort that was the first settlement here, and the pousada in the old grand hotel.

The Praça da República

The town’s square is a set of Renaissance pieces by one man, João Lopes: the carved granite fountain of the 16th century in the middle, the old town hall of 1502 with the city’s arms of a boat and an armillary sphere, the Misericórdia with one of the finest Renaissance facades in the country and a church of azulejos behind it, and the battlemented Sá family house. The Museu do Traje on the same square, for €2.40, shows the costumes and gold of the Minho. The 15th-century cathedral, Romanesque in its bulk with two battlemented towers and a carved Gothic portal, and the rococo chapel of Nossa Senhora da Agonia, the fishermen’s shrine, are a few streets away.

The waterfront

The Gil Eannes, moored at the dock, was the hospital ship of the Portuguese cod fleet on the Newfoundland banks from 1955 to 1973, and is now a museum with its operating theatres and radio room intact, and a youth hostel. The Fort of Santiago da Barra, built under Manuel I to guard the river mouth, stands beyond it, and the iron Eiffel bridge crosses the Lima to the south bank and the beaches.

Food & drink

Viana eats fish. Bacalhau à Margarida da Praça, a cod dish named for a market woman, pescada à vianense, hake in the local style, and caldo verde are the town’s own; the sea bass, sardines and shellfish of the river-mouth restaurants are the everyday menu, and the inland houses do rojões and cabrito. Fish restaurants line the river by the Largo 5 de Outubro and the streets around São Domingos; menus run from about €9 to €27, and the regional places in the old town are famous for their rojões.

The sweet is the bola de Berlim from Natário on the Avenida dos Combatentes, a doughnut filled with egg cream and rolled in sugar and cinnamon, for which people queue 15 to 30 minutes. The wine is vinho verde from the Lima valley, the lightest in the Minho.

Nightlife

Viana is a small town and quiet at night outside the summer: café terraces on the Praça da República, a few bars on the streets behind it and along the riverfront, and the Cabedelo beach bars in July and August. The exception is the Agonia festival in August, when the town does not sleep: processions, fireworks and folk bands in every street.

When to go

August. The Romaria d’Agonia is the town’s week and one of the largest festivals in Portugal: costume parades, processions and gold on every neck. Book far ahead or come for the day from Porto.

June to July, September. Beach weather with a cool Atlantic and the surf schools open at Cabedelo; the town is lively without being full.

April to May, October. Mild, green and empty, with rain likely; the best months for the Santa Luzia view and the riverside cycling.

November to March. Wet and windy on this coast, with big surf and grey skies; the town closes in on itself and hotel prices fall.

Getting there

By train. Viana is on the Minho line from Porto: suburban and regional trains from São Bento and Campanhã, and the twice-daily Celta between Porto and Vigo, which stops here in about an hour from Porto. The station is at the top of the Avenida dos Combatentes, a ten-minute walk from the square; from Braga the train means changing at Nine, and the bus is as quick.

By air and road. Porto airport (OPO) is 60 km south by the A28, which runs on north to Caminha and the Spanish border; the A27 goes inland to Ponte de Lima. AVIC and other coach companies connect Porto and Lisbon.

Getting around

The centre is on foot; the attractions and most of the shops sit close together in the pedestrian old town. Santa Luzia is a stiff walk up the steps through the woods, a short drive or a taxi ride. Bicycles are rented at the tourist office by the Praça da Liberdade, and in summer four-seat pedal karts on the riverfront are popular with families; AVIC and Transcunha run the city buses, traffic is light and the roads are well signed. The car-hire firms have offices in the centre.

Where to stay

The choice is between the old town, with guesthouses and small hotels on the Largo 5 de Outubro and the streets around the square, the pousada in the old hotel on Santa Luzia for the view, and the manor houses and rural tourism quintas in the villages up the Lima valley, which is the Minho’s speciality. The Gil Eannes doubles as a youth hostel with cabins on board. The Agonia week is the only time rooms are hard to find.

Practical info

The Viana Welcome Centre on the Praça do Eixo Atlântico is the tourist office, open daily in July and August and closed Mondays otherwise; it has the hiking maps, the bikes and the festival programme. The things to buy are gold filigree, the Viana heart pendant above all, and the painted Viana crockery, sold in the old town and at the factory in Meadela; the municipal museum has the reference collection. The coastal Camino passes through on its way to Caminha and the ferry into Galicia. For money, plugs and pharmacies see the Portugal guide.