Tourist Attractions in Vila Real
Vila Real is an attractive old episcopal city and district capital, amid orchards, 100km/62mi east of Oporto and on the north side of the Serra de Marao, where the Rio Corgo joins with the Rio Cabril. It still has many fine 15th to 18th C. patrician houses. The black pottery from the locality, especially Biselhaes, is famous.
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Mateus - Solar de Mateus, Portugal
(Near Vila Real)
Solar de Mateus is a fine Portuguese Baroque manor. The building is still a private residence but areas are open to the public.
Avenida de Carvalho Aráujo
The town's main shopping street and thoroughfare is the Avenida de Carvalho Aráujo, where Vila Real's main sights are also to be found.
Cathedral
The 14th C. Gothic Cathedral, or Sé, was originally the church of a Dominican convent, and still has Romanesque capitals from the first church on the site.
Diogo Cao's Birthplace
The birthplace of the navigator Diogo Cao, who discovered the mouth of the Congo, is at number 17 Avenida de Carvalho Aráujo, an Italian Renaissance building.
Panóais
3km/2mi beyond Mateus a road branches off to the Celto Iberian cultsite of Panóias. Six granite rocks bear Greek and Latin inscriptions. One of the rocks must have served as a sacrificial stone; the channels down which the blood of the slaughtered animals ran, can still be seen.
Sao Pedro
The 16th C. church of Sao Pedro is richly decorated with 17th C. polychrome azulejos and has a gilded coffered ceiling in the choir.
Serra do Marao
There is a beautiful drive of 50km/30mi westward from Vila Real through the wild and romantic Serra do Marao to Amarante.
Termas de Pedras Salgadas
Termas de Pedras Salgadas is a spa 35km/22mi north of Vila Real on the Chaves road which is much visited for its radioactive springs and pleasant park.
View
There are fine views from the hill above the town, once occupied by a castle, and from the Calvário (460m/1,509ft), with the 16th C. church of Santo António.
Vila Marim, Portugal
(Near Vila Real)
The village of Vila Marim about 4km/2.25mi west of Vila Real has an interesting 14th C. granite tower, the Torre de Quintela.
Attractions in Other Popular Destinations
