Sunday, October 19, 2014
© * 2019 - 2018 - Terena - 2nd Part of Stage 10 - Monsaraz to Alandroal - about 33,4 km.
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There has been a settlement here since before the Romans. It was occupied by the Moors from whom it was taken 1231, during D. Sancho´s reign. It was fortified by D. Dinis. It was further fortified under D. Joao I in the 14th Century. The Castle can be visited. Julius Caesar and his soldiers came to Terena in 63 B.C.
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Terena. The best view of this small castle town is from the road from Alandroal to Reguengos. It is beautifully, almost biblically, located amongst olive trees and hills topped by a single cork oak with the Lucefecit reservoir on one side and the Guadiana River a few kilometers away on the other. The old town consists of two streets, the main one has the Castle of Terena at one end and the Igreja Matriz de S. Pedro (foundation unknown but first mentioned 1394) at the other. All the houses along this narrow cobbled street have bright geraniums in pots and purple bougainvillea growing up the blinding whitewashed walls. Little happens in the town itself,
ReplyDeletethere is a single guesthouse and the odd car making it a very pretty and peaceful spot to stay or visit.
Casa de Terena, Rua Direita, N° 45, 00351 268 459 132, Café Mato Bon, Terena, 00351 268 459 147.
Julius Caesar arrived in Terena in 63 B.C., and his soldiers robbed from the Sanctuary of the statues of Venus and Cupid, and all the gold offerings made by Carthiginians.
ReplyDeleteCaesar tried to get the gold offerings back without much success and arranged a cheap new statue of available marble.
Caesar brought eventually the Venus statue back at his own expense. People thought that Venus was Caesar's patron goddess, which was why he put himself out to that extent.
"Camino de la Plata" or "Via Lata", an important Roman Road in Spain, ran roughly parallel to the present eastern frontier of Portugal.
Laid out in the reign of Augustus, it extended north from Seville, and via Mérida, Cáceres, Plasencia, Salamanca and Zamora to Astorga, from which several other main roads diverted west, among them
(from Mérida) via Santarém to Lisbon, and traversed rough country (from Astorga) towards Braga.
Bom Caminho.