Historic Journey - PT 3

 

Hello !  Another new day arrived.

After all the relaxing, beach time and tiny-house life, my Portugal adventure continued.

And this time the vibe was a little different. Less ocean...More history.

More “How did I not know this place existed before?” moments. 😂

I really love these kinds of days because you can leave the place  without expecting too much and suddenly find yourself somewhere that makes you stop and think.

One of the places I visited was Casa da Memória da Medicina Sefardita António Ribeiro Sanches in Penamacor.

And honestly, this was one of those places where I arrived without knowing exactly what to expect.

The name itself is already quite a mouthful! 😂

But once you start discovering the story behind it, it becomes much more interesting.

The house is dedicated to the memory of Sephardic medicine and, especially, António Ribeiro Sanches, a doctor and important intellectual from Penamacor. The museum also tells a wider story about Portuguese Sephardic Jews who were connected with the practice and teaching of medicine, both in Portugal and abroad.  I always find it fascinating when you visit a small Portuguese town and suddenly discover that there are stories here that connect to much bigger parts of European history.

And then you realise that someone who lived here centuries ago travelled, studied, worked and left an impact far beyond this little town.

It makes you look at the place differently. Sometimes it's just a small house with a big story.

After history, I needed some fresh air again. So we continued towards Albufeira da Barragem de Penha Garcia. What a change of atmosphere !!

Suddenly, instead of old walls and history, there was water, mountains and that feeling of being far away from everything.

This is exactly the kind of place where I can happily sit somewhere and do absolutely nothing. Just look.

Listen. Take photographs. Walk around a little. And then look again. 😄

The landscape around Penha Garcia has that wild feeling that I really enjoy.

It's not polished. It's not trying too hard. It's just nature doing its thing.

There was something very calming about being around the water.

After spending so much time surrounded by people, screens, roads and everyday responsibilities, being somewhere like this reminds you how nice it is to simply have space around you.

I could have stayed there longer, with a coffee and a book. Maybe doing absolutely nothing.

I think sometimes we plan vacations as if we need to constantly do something.

See this. Visit that. Take a tour. Go somewhere else.

But some of my favourite travel memories are actually the moments when I wasn't doing anything special at all.

Just sitting somewhere beautiful and thinking: I'm happy to be here.

And that was one of those moments.

From nature, we continued to Sortelha, one of Portugal's historic villages.

And this place... You know when you arrive somewhere and immediately feel like you have stepped into another century? That was Sortelha for me.

The village sits high on a granite landscape, with traditional stone houses and medieval walls surrounding the old settlement. The castle stands above it all, around metres above sea level.

I started walking through the village and immediately became obsessed with the stone.

The walls, the little streets, the doors… Everything looked like it had a story.

And I kept stopping every few minutes to take photographs.

Then we went up to the Castelo de Sortelha.

The castle and the village were part of Portugal's old frontier defensive system, and the castle has medieval origins. Sortelha's historic centre has kept much of its medieval appearance, with granite houses built around the rocky landscape.

But when you're actually standing there, you don't think about dates and architecture first.

At least I don't. 😄

You look around and imagine... Who walked here before me?

They make your imagination work.

You don't just see a building. You start creating little stories in your head.

The landscape stretches out in every direction, and suddenly the old defensive purpose of the castle makes sense. And finally, I was walking around an ancient stone village and climbing the walls of a castle.

More adventures coming...

With love,
Viki

Sortelha

Penha Garcia