Good morning!
Right outside the train station in Viana do Castelo I saw an old statue of a couple dancing. I liked this detail very much, as it depicts a traditional style of dancing still performed at local fairs and festivals to this day. 💃🕺
The statue is very well situated and it looks rather cool with the train station as background. On a sunny day, it gives a nice postcard photo!
This dance - named Vira do Alto Minho - is really old. It's a kind of waltz and the name can be roughly translated as Turn from the Alto Minho. Its origins are lost in History, some historians believe the dance was created somewhere during the 16th century but there are no facts to confirm this theory.
Below you can see an example of this type of waltz, which I've found on YouTube:
Afterwards I started walking down the street... and I took the opportunity to take a final shot of the train station.
On the left, just across the street, you can see another old building, a huge and impressive one! It almost looks like a palace...
Most old buildings like this tend to become abandoned, since families over 30 members living in the same house are no longer a thing in our modern society...
The few buildings that are kept in great condition were usually taken over by the Government and put to use at the service of the country. This one is no exception, nowadays this is the main judicial court of Viana do Castelo.
It's one of the rare things the Government actually does well. After all, they cannot fail at everything, right? 😂
At the end of the street, I turned into a small alley and right away I saw a cute restaurant. (If I were alone I would've definitely had lunch at this place... but since I was accompanied, we ended up going elsewhere.)
Right at the entrance there was a painting of Frida Kahlo welcoming you inside. I'm not sure who the artist was, though... I doubt really much it's from herself. Nevertheless I liked it.
Just outside there were two chairs next to a cute and original table made out of a wine barrel. A very inviting scenario, specially for a young couple. It makes you wanna sit down and ask for a couple of glasses of wine. 🍷🍷
And perhaps order a cheese table, too. 🧀
I hope you enjoyed this article and photos. See you next time!
| Location | Viana do Castelo - Portugal |
| Camera | Panasonic Lumix DC-TZ90 |
| Photos | 8 (Edited with GIMP) |
