Castelo de Paiva

Here I come to tell you another adventure I did this year. In June, I took advantage of a long weekend and went to Arouca with my boyfriend for 3 days to do the Passadiços do Paiva route. On the way from Porto to Arouca, we decided to stop in Castelo de Paiva for lunch and a walk around the city. Castelo de Paiva is a portuguese village located south of the Douro River in the district of Aveiro. This village has several beautiful landscapes that mix nature 🌳 with the water 💧 of the several rivers that pass there (Douro, Paiva, Arda and Sadoura).

Catapeixe Viewpoint

Our first stop was at Catapeixe Viewpoint (in portuguese, Miradouro do Catapeixe) which is a viewpoint on the side of a road with incredible views to the place where the rivers Douro and Paiva join. From this place you can also see the Castelo Island, which is also known as Love Island. It’s an island formed by granite blocks and sediments where there are archaeological evidence from the Neolithic period.

Historic center

Then, we went to the center of Castelo de Paiva where we explored the Jardim do Largo do Conde, the Igreja Matriz do Sobrado and the Marmoiral de Sobrado. I would say that these are the three main attractions in the center of Castelo de Paiva. Jardim do Largo do Conde is a well-kept garden with several flowers 🌺 that is located in front of the Municipal Chamber. In the center of the garden there is a statue of the 1st Count of Castelo de Paiva, a man with a name that never ends… get ready… Martinho José Pinto de Menezes and Sousa Melo de Almeida Correia de Miranda Montenegro Pamplona (1848-1923). It’s also in front of the garden that the Igreja Matriz do Sobrado is located, which has a Baroque and Rococo architecture built at the end of the century XVIII. At the time we went the church was closed but it probably had to do with the preventive measures of COVID-19. The Marmoiral do Sobrado is a little further away from the center but it’s perfectly possible to walk. It’s a medieval monument that marks the passage of the funeral procession of Queen Sta. Mafalda 👑, daughter of D. Sancho I, bound for the Monastery of Arouca, where she was buried.

Lunch at O Geraldo restaurant

O Geraldo is a very simple restaurant with traditional food and very affordable. I had read on Tripadvisor about this restaurant and it didn't disappoint. Because of COVID-19, the restaurant was not operating with a menu, it only had two dishes of the day: roasted lamb or veal. We opted for the veal that came with roasted potatoes, rice and salad. For dessert, we ate a divine moist sponge cake. In the end we paid 24€ for both.

Already with a full belly, we continue on our way to Arouca… If you want to know the scenes of the next chapters, follow me on Instagram, which I announce there whenever a new blog post comes out. ❤️