Carregal do Sal

It is with the impressive witness of the megalithic culture that we start a fascinating journey in Carregal do Sal.In Fiais da Telha, the Dolmen of Lapa da Orca has nine upright stones that form a polygonal room about three metres high. The access passage remains intact and the silence is the most important sign of this fascinating journey to an ancient world.The Romans came centuries later and left traces in Cova da Moira and Cabanas de Viriato. This journey comes to an end in the Christian era. In Cova da Moira and in Cabanas de Viriato we can see how they used stones to make funeral monuments: there are anthropomorphic tombstones, dating from the 7th / 8th century A.D. These are just a few of the many monuments that are now included in the three routes that are already created.

The name Carregal comes from a grass called "Cárrega", which grows abundantly in this area, and the word "Sal" (salt) comes from the salt warehouses that existed here. The warehouses disappeared, but the memories of the activities of the past remained. It was long ago that King D. Diniz gave the charter to Oliveira do Conde, a place of nobility where we can still admire today the impressiveness of the manor houses which are part of the history of the Portuguese Nobility. Cabanas of Viriato has stories that the time has not erased. Hometown of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul in Bordeaux who, during the Second World War, gave visas to thousands of Jews, who were thus able to escape the Nazi Holocaust. And we still have the carnival of Cabanas de Viriato. It is the most authentic and impressive carnival of the Beira. During Carnival, the streets become full of colour and they wait for Shrove Tuesday, to see the "Dança Grande" (great dance) or "Dança dos Cús" (dance of the bums).There are balls, there is a King and a Queen. It is a feast, a great feast, because after this comes Lent and the people will mourn, as expected, until Easter, because these people are very religious.Carregal do Sal is a place where one eats well. The maize bread must be tasted because nowhere else does it taste as good. The blood sausages, the meat sausages and the flour sausages are a must. You also need to taste the roasted kid, the "Chanfana" (goat braised in red wine) and the delicious Serra da Estrela Cheese, which is really home made. All this should be accompanied with the Excellence of the Dão Wine, as we are in the Demarcated Region of the Dão.