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Day 80. Idanha-a-Velha

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Когда-то здесь в гроте жил отшельник. Его мать – незамужняя деревенская женщина – принесла сюда младенца сразу после рождения. Ребенка выкормила олениха, и он остался жить среди камней. В XIII веке рядом с гротом построили церковь Sao Pedro de Vir-a-Corca («Сан Педро, приходящий-к-оленихе»). Из местного камня - гранита. С отдельно стоящей колокольней и солнечными часами из 12 камней на внешней стене. Только по ним жители Монсанту узнавали точное время. День 80. Иданья-а-Велья Civitas Igaeditanorum – Egitanea – Idanha-a-Velha. Здесь были многие: римляне, вестготы, арабы, португальцы. Самое значительное и интересное наследие сохранилось от первых двух. “This used to be Egitania, and is now Idanha-a-Velha. Egitania seems to be Visigoth, and thus posterior to the Latin Igaeditania; not that this matters much to the traveler, except that it reminds him that the past of these lands is longer than the roads leading to them. This village has come from so far in the past it has got lost in the ...

Monsanto. Pagan traditions.

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Adufe – традиционный музыкальный инструмент из Монсанту The adufe is a square or rectangular pine frame drum from 12 to 22 inches on a side and around 1 to 2 inches thick. There is a drumhead on each side made of goatskin and the two sides are sewn together or nailed on to the frame. Before the heads are attached the drum maker will place objects inside the drum to rattle when the drum is struck or shaken. These objects might include bells, dried seeds, bottle caps, a gut snare or even small metal nuts or jingles. The drum was introduced into the Spanish and Portuguese cultures by the Moors of North Africa beginning in the early 700s A.D. The adufe is found mainly in three different regions of Portugal and the way of making it is different in each one. In Alentejo, a tanned pig’s bladder is used for the skin while in Tras-os-Montes, a goatskin called “samara” (sah-mah-rah) is used. The drum is decorated with bits of ribbon on each corner of the frame. The name adufe probably came from ...

Day 79. Monsanto

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День 79. Монсанту Монсанту... Здесь остановилось не время, а камни. Они двигались, сталкивались, разговаривали и внезапно замерли, застыли... "He is looking for another kind of stone, the kind that has never seen a chisel, or if it has, still bears the scars proudly. He won’t be in Monsanto long enough to know how much of the stone has entered its people; but he thinks he will be able to understand what they gave to stone. To judge the former, he would have to stay; for the latter, he can move on. He heads for the summit. Between the last house and the walls of the castle there is an almost untouched realm of huge boulders, the barrocos, vast empty spaces which could fit a whole city of rocks, ad above all these, four huge boulders, on of them almost completely buried in the ground, which serves as a base for two others at its ends, and balanced on top an almost perfect sphere, like a satellite fallen to earth. The traveler thought he had seen all there was to see regarding stone...

Day 77. Sortelha & Sabugal & Almeida

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День 77. Сортелья & Сабугал & Алмейда Сортелья. Дома без окон... На юге, в Алентежо, в старых арабских кварталах подобный тип застройки обусловлен необходимостью сохранить прохладу внутри, здесь, напротив, - стремлением не выпустить тепло наружу. За воротами старого города был рынок. Выбитые полосы на стене использовались в качестве меры длины для ткани. Сабугал. Еще один замок… Пусть будет издалека на этот раз :) Алмейда. Черешневая настойка у Амелии, лошади и крепость. «Almeida is its fortress. The polygonal design of the fortifications, the outline of the forts, the line of the ditches, could best be seen from the air. But even from the ground the traveler gets a good impression of the whole by walking round the walls and estimating their height. The are built for other times, other wars. People fought close to the ground, and although bombs were lobbed through the air, they were not powerful enough to destroy the arches of the gates. Those were wars of ants.» (© J. Saram...

Day 76. Trancoso

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Еврейский квартал в Транкозо Пожилая женщина сидит на крыльце и вяжет. - Где здесь еврейский квартал? - Там, наверху. - А евреи там живут сейчас? - Нет, все давно умерли. Но этих ублюдков так много по всему миру! Она ведь в жизни своей евреев не видела! Пятьсот лет прошло, а предрассудки все те же. Оказывается, основным признаком еврейских домов в средневековой Португалии были вовсе не кресты инквизиции, а сколы на дверных и оконных проемов. Еврейские жилища должны быть видны с улицы — так требовала инквизиция. День 76. Транкозо “Trancoso is not quite as he had imagined it. He was expecting a town with medieval architecture, surrounded by walls, an atmosphere of ancient history. The walls are there, the history is ancient enough, and yet the traveler feels rejected” (© “Journey to Portugal” J. Saramago) “Goncalo Eanes Bandarra, a shoemaker from Trancoso who lived in the sixteenth century, made prophecies of biblical inspiration which said that Portugal would one day be free f...