Castles

Today we visited two official Portuguese “Historic Villages”- Trancoso and Mariavela and one equally interesting ancient village Moreira de Re, all with castles.  We learned that all three have been involved in fighting between Muslims and Christians since the 8C, with Trancoso used in fighting the French as recently as the 1800s. Trancoso (on the left in the collage) is the most touristy of the 3,  a medieval village still surrounded by walls with a well preserved castle  and lots of  cafes with those delicious Portuguese tarts.  The most fun was Moreira de Re (on the right) where there was a geocache hidden up high on one of the boulders that forms part of the castle walls.  It was very useful having son R’s mountain goat skills with us.   Mariavela was notable for the very expensive looking modern designer houses surrounding the ancient village/castle that is awaiting renovation.