Day 93. Lindoso & Bravaes & Ponte da Barca & Ponte de Lima

Эспигейруш – город мертвых?..

На самом деле, все гораздо прозаичнее. Это амбары для зерна XVIII, XIX, XX веков в Линдозу.

Так описывает это место Сарамаго: “Lindoso has its castle and its raised granaries, all kept securely under lock and key. Just as well. One can look out equally well from the castle and the granaries benefit from being seen from the outside as there’s no reason to disturb the peace of the corncobs.

The granaries are laid out like a city, the old buildings stained with lichen and inlaid with dates from the 1700s, 1800s and others more recent. But each and every one follows the traditional design, being covered by two sloping eaves, their bulk resting on beams topped with capitals, called in these regions tables or turnabouts, ingenious devices which prevent the rats from getting at the corn. In some the stone slats have given way to slabs, a sign that the days of stonemasons are long past: even the least skilled laborer can assemble a half-dozen lathers.

What the traveler most regrets is not being here on a moonlit night. This city of waterless palafitas, a little city of houses on stilts, demands the crisscrossing shadows of night: the shade of any man wandering here would have much to learn.” (© “Journey to Portugal” J. Saramago)

Романская церковь в Браваеше (XII в.) - сколько же все-таки фантазии, образности и наивной простоты было впоследствии задушено христианскими канонами!

“Bravaes is a Romanesque gateway with flowery buildings, a compendium sublimating the thematic possibilities of opencast stone, transported both from nearby and from as far away as Galicia. Facades boast bas-reliefs of bulls who have observed the passing generations, perhaps a throwback to earlier cultures, possible of the sun and moon, so easily found in conjunction with Christian symbolism.” (© “Journey to Portugal” J. Saramago)

День 93. Понте да Барка & Понте де Лима

Два моста, два города…