Vila do Conde (altitude: sea level) , "town of the Counts", is about 20km/12mi north of Oporto on the left bank of the mouth of the Rio Ave. Its people get their living from shipbuilding, cotton manufacture and, traditionally, pillowlace making, while many other businesses have established themselves around the little town, which is also a seaside resort. Its old town center makes it a favorite excursion for tourists from Póvoa de Varzim, a few miles to the north, which it now almost adjoins.
The little fishing port of Azurara is just 2km/1.25mi south of Vila do Conde on the right bank of the river. It has an interesting 16th C. Manueline fortified church, which also has a pelourinho in its square.
The Centro de Artesanato, the arts and crafts center a few hundred yards east of the parish church, displays the products of Vila do Conde's traditional pillowlace making.
The remains of the Celtic settlement of Cividade de Bagunte, where there have been some beautiful stone and bronze finds, are about 6km/4mi east of Vila do Conde, not far from where the Rio Este joins the Rio Ave.
The fortified parish church, the Igreja Matriz, is in the old part of town and was built in the 16th C. to a cruciform groundplan. It has a Manueline doorway and 17th C. belfry. Its gilded wood pulpit dating from the 17th and 18th C. is well worth seeing. The pelourinho in the little church square is 16th C., and the sword stands for justice. The 16th C. town hall, bearing Manuel I's coatofarms, is on the north of the square.
Rates, 4km/2.5mi northeast of Rio Mau, is worth a detour for its important Romanesque church of Sao Pedro. It was built by French architects for Henry of Burgundy at the beginning of the 12th C., replacing an earlier church on the spot where St Pedro of Rates is believed to have been martyred by Roman soldiers in the A.D. first C. Subsequently altered in parts, the church still has rich 12th C. sculptural decoration.
Rio Mau is barely 10km/6mi northeast of Vila do Conde. Its Romanesque church of Sao Cristóvao, built for a convent founded in 1151, has interesting sculptural decoration.
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Azurara, Portugal
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