A is for Amarante
This beautiful city has gorgeous churches, museums and even an amazing water-park which is essential to keep young and old delighted in the summer months.
Not only these things but this city has some interesting quirks about it such as
São Gonçalo in his church
Saint Gonçalo was a noble-born priest from the 13th century and is credited with several miracles. One of them was splitting his own head open to produce wine for the thirsty workers who were building a bridge over the Tâmega River when their own supplies ran out! Which is quite gross even if selfless.
This man has also been associated with love and fertility, hence the phallic cakes that are baked in huge quantities for the Festas de São Gonçalo celebrations on the first Saturday of June.
The magnificent church that bears his name contains an effigy of him on his tomb which, despite its creepiness, is frequently visited by hopeful women.
Visit the Amadeo de Souza Cardoso Museum
This contemporary art museum is dedicated to one of the most popular Portuguese artists.
The rest of the space has eclectic works from a range of artists – quite a lot for a brief visit to Amarante but worth a look if you have the time.
Amarante water park!!
The Amarante Aquatic Park was created in 1994, and is a tourist complex with more than 44,000 m2. It has, besides the aquatic park has a set of rural tourism houses, gymnasium, events house and wave pool.
The park was the first water park in the North of the country, having always taken the lead not only in size, but also in the variety of its attractions.
It is also considered to be the largest mountain water park in the Iberian Peninsula, so it is popular not only in Portugal but by neighbouring Spain as well.
So there you have it, a mixture of love, religion, art and fun. What more could you ask for?
