São Martinho de Anta, July 3, 1966
These landscapes are already so explicit within me, that they seem written in my understanding. When I think I'm interpreting them, I'm reading myself.
Diary X
The earth is of such nature that, not content with the gifts in the open air, it encloses in its entrails riches that have no count. You enter the belly of a mountain and it's iron, it's gold, it's lead, it's tin, it's tungsten, it's zinc, it's uranium, it's everything Vulcan forged.
Portugal
Torguian Themes
Culture
Nature
Casa Miguel Torga
Espaço Miguel Torga
Trilho Nos Passos do Torga
Escola Primária do Poeta
Pólo Arqueológico da Garganta
Capela da Senhora da Azinheira
Casa Aires Torres
Igreja Matriz de Sabrosa
Casa de Fernão Magalhães
Os Locais e Culturas da Viagem de Magalhães
Aldeia Histórica de Provesende
Trilho Vinhateiro de Provesende
Miradouro de São Cristóvão do Douro
Miradouro de São Domingos de Monte Coxo
Pinhão
São Leonardo da Galafura
Museu do Douro
Centro Histórico Vila Real
Sé de Vila Real, Igreja de São Domingos
Igreja de S. Paulo, Capela Nova
Jardim da Carreira
Museu da Vila Velha
Fundação da Casa de Mateus
Fragas de Panóias, Santuário de Panóias
How to get to São Martinho de Anta
One hour by car from Porto, two hours from Vigo. From Porto, follow the A4 towards Vila Real. Exit to IP3, continue on A24/IP3 to EN322. Exit at São Martinho de Anta. From Vigo, follow AP-9 towards Tui. In Portugal, follow A3, A11 and A4 to Vila Real. Exit at exit 13 of A4, continue on EN322, exit at São Martinho de Anta.
In the suitcase: books and soundtrack
Walking through the physical and sentimental geography of Miguel Torga is entering his work and his life. Visiting his places with his books, the Diary, Portugal, the Stories and New Stories of the Mountain, helps to unravel this so unique and singular universe. Poetry, A Criação do Mundo, Bichos and Vindima are also beautiful travel companions. In addition to the sounds and silences of the landscapes, rivers, vineyards and people, the album Viagem a Um Reino Maravilhoso, by Lavoisier, is the perfect soundtrack for these walks. The album starts from Torga's poems to translate and recreate the sound found in the poetry of the Transmontan writer.
It's a pity that mountains don't speak, don't dialogue or testify. These mine, at least. Besides the emotion of hearing them respond to the monologue that the silence in which they live erased from my lips and made interior, I would especially like to know if the indelible mark of each of our encounters remains in their soul, as in mine. The embrace we give is so tight and medullary, so intimate the communion that unites us for hours on end, that I don't resign myself to the idea that only on my side there is consciousness, and on the other the love is passive.
Diary VIIBut I could never live outside it as a writer. I lacked the dictionary of the earth, the grammar of the landscape, the Holy Spirit of the people.
A Criação do MundoThe starting point
The writer's village, where he was born and where he is buried in a flat grave, granite, with a torga. Starting point for a weekend or longer walk. When you want, how you want, for as long as you want.
Many itineraries are possible from this village that became a town and that embraces the Transmontan landscapes. The Espaço Miguel Torga, by architect Souto Moura, is a cultural facility with a permanent exhibition about the life and work of Miguel Torga, a temporary exhibition room and an auditorium where lectures, concerts and recitals are regularly held. Right next door, five minutes on foot, the door of Casa Miguel Torga opens to welcome visitors: the entrance hall with decorative weapons and the beret, the living room, the fireplace and the armchair where the author sat and wrote, first editions, photographs and manuscripts, translations in several languages, works by Andrée Rocha and Clara Rocha.
Outdoors, the sky, the smell of earth, the landscape that grabs the colors of time, stone, granite. The Passos de Torga is a trail that starts from Casa Miguel Torga and ends at Eirô, the square of São Martinho de Anta. In the center of the town there used to be a negrilho (the popular name for the black elm), the centenary tree to which the author dedicated the poem "A um Negrilho". The trail is an 11-kilometer circular walk that breathes nature, shrubs, pines and holm oaks, gorse, white brooms and rosemary.
The primary school with windows overlooking the Marão, evoked in the first pages of A Criação do Mundo, and where, years later, the poet spent an afternoon replanting the mimosas of his childhood. In the village of Garganta, another old school whose building is now the Archaeological Center of Garganta, a facility that preserves some archaeological remains collected in the Necropolis of Touças and in the mamoa of Madorras, both worth a visit.
At the top of the mountain, with the Marão and Alvão in view, is the Senhora da Azinheira, with its porch that recalls the setting of the story "Natal". White, simple chapel, from the 17th century, baroque altarpiece with gilded carving. The bell, the chestnut trees around, the old fountain, the smell of rosemary, the pilgrimage of August 15, the rocks that become picnic tables for a day.
A few kilometers away, in the village of Parada de Pinhão, is Casa Aires Torres. The life and work of Aires Torres, poet, actor, military and revolutionary. The permanent exhibition room shows biographical panels, personal objects and part of his library. In Sabrosa, it's worth visiting the castro, dated from the Iron Age and later occupied by the Romans. Also noteworthy are the Mother Church, from the 18th century, in baroque style, Casa da Capela and Casa da Pereira, where, according to tradition, Fernão de Magalhães would have been born. The great circumnavigation journey is told in the exhibition Locais e Culturas da Viagem de Magalhães, at Parque BB King, in Sabrosa, which allows you to experience the odyssey and discover distant territories.
