The reconquest and the beginning of nationality were marked By building many castles, but over the centuries, several have been abandoned. We visited the castles of Arnoiain Celorico de Basto, and Aguiar da Pena, in Vila Pouca de Aguiar.
At first, it can almost go unnoticed by the way the walls of the Castle of Aguiar da Pena merge with the granite where. But soon what experts call a “cAstelo rWhato”: eDifics that take advantage of hardness and natural contours to become even more invincible.
Aregret that the current structure is already in the early days of Portuguese nationality, it is believed that even before There could be a Fortification of the so -called Fellowship – phase where Many were built
The castle, also known as Pena de Aguiar, is leaning against Planalto do Alvão With a privileged view of the valley, whose land dominated. A stronghold that was a sign of the power of the first monarchs in Aguiar lands, where inhabitants of the little neighboring village, called the castle, had to arrange the garrison.
Time eroded the defense capacity of a structure that, in the century XV, imposed on the landscape and today it can be reconstructed based on archeology and the worldl.
The same happened with Castle of Arnoh. In safeguarding the military structure, whose origin will be at the end of the century Xnow comes the village of the castle. But, Until the beginning of 1700, this was the village of Basto, where was the headquarters of the municipality of Celorico de Basto and your touter castle.
By the village, traces of local power remain traces, which recall the glow lost by changes in the art of war and the fixation of the borders.
At the end of the castle’s life, in the century XVIit is known, grace to archeology, who lived here a blacksmith. However, they did not forget hundreds of years of stories and legends that go back to reconquest.
Cultural and patrimonial wealth that has been the target of investment, to tell part of the history of the lands of Basto, and the only castle among the 58 monuments of the Romanesque route. Bet that will continue. O Bass Tâmega will continue this way a Being under the watchful eye of a castle, which eventually regained a highlight that came to seem lost forever.
