Hello everyone and welcome to my blog :-)
We like to get lost on national roads and here in Chaves we did exactly the same. We turned off the GPS and went where the road took us. The funniest thing is that we returned to the starting point without even thinking about it, but before arriving we discovered some villages of our Portugal. The first stop was Sesmil!
We saw this small village on the highest road and went down to find out what was going on.
Silence continues to prevail in these places. You don't see many people because it is a very small village. The first stop was at an abandoned church. Unfortunately, we encounter some along the way. We have seen that many are recovered but I believe that local authorities are not able to do this work in all of them.
I'm really sad to see the abandonment to which the villages are subjected and those who can invest here and have their own little piece of land are very lucky.
Here at home, our dream is to one day have a little house in one of these places. Below this abandoned church is a tank that would once have been used by those who lived here to wash their clothes and perhaps for the enjoyment of children on hot days.
Nowadays it is covered by a green blanket due to its unusability. This reminded me of when I was little and there was no washing machine. I loved going with my mom to the washing tank play with water wille she did the laundry . As soon as she laid out the clothes, especially the sheets, I'd like to go through the middlet and loved the smell of the soap. Even today I love seeing sheets drying in the backyard.
We descended slowly, as the day allowed us to calmly appreciate the village. Some of the houses have already been restored, with their granite facades, others not so much.
There is another church or chapel ahead. This one has already been restored and has a facade.
One of the houses caught my attention because of the name on a sign: "Casa da Vinha Velha". I went searching and to my surprise it was a tourist house :-)
I hope that in this way it will be possible to start revitalizing the surroundings of Chaves, allowing these places to begin to be more populated.
Almost every house has land, which continues to be a means of subsistence around here. Either to plant vegetables and fruit trees, or through pastures to feed the animals.
We had the opportunity to see a herd of sheep and we stayed there to watch for a while.
This time we got back in the car and headed to a new village.
I'll be back tomorrow to continue introducing you to the interior of Portugal.
I hope you enjoyed.
See you around.
Wishing you much peace and health
Those who pass by us do not go alone. They leave a bit of themselves, taking a piece of us."
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince.
