An hour north of Porto lies a small city with a fascinating culture of gold jewelry, embroidered love letters, and delicious local pastries.
Early Homo heidelbergensis were in present-day Portugal 400,000 years ago and humans arrived in what is now Portugal around 40,000 years ago. The first humans settled in the area near present-day Viana do Castelo about 15,000 years ago during the Middle Stone Age.
Later, the Roman Empire, followed by the Germanic Suebi Kingdom ruled the region. Unlike the regions of Portugal to the south, this region was never conquered by the Moors who ruled Portugal for 500 years.
The city was formally chartered in the 13th century. Viana grew wealthy in the 16th century due to its port where many ships departed and arrived from Africa, Asia, and the New World.
In the 19th century, local women began the custom of embroidering kerchiefs called Lencos dos Namorados. Translated to Valentine’s Scarves, they were worn by women of marrying age. The scarves’ embroidery was often in the form or a love letter with verses and hearts showing the woman’s affection and commitment. She would give the scarf to a potential suitor who would wear it publicly to show that he returned the woman’s love. However, if the man did not share these feelings, he would return the Valentine Scarf to the woman, leaving her heartbroken.
Today, original Lencos dos Namorados from 200 years ago are valuable cultural artifacts. Shops in Viana are filled with newly made hand (and machine) embroidered Valentine’s Scarves. Some quality made examples retail for hundreds of Euros.
Because the rural woman of this area were often illiterate in the 19th century, many of these scarves had grammatical errors. When the scarves are reproduced today, the grammatical errors are kept to preserve their historical accuracy.
Only 35,000 people live in Viana do Castelo so it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that vegetarian and vegan food can be a bit hard to come by. Many things you might expect to be vegetarian, like soup or salads are often topped with Chorizo (sausage) or Bacon.
However, there is one vegetarian restaurant called Terra that’s about a 15 minute walk outside of town. Good brunch items, sandwiches, snacks, and drinks in a chill atmosphere.
Other than that, the menus of Viana are populated with seafood (it’s on the ocean, after all) and meat dishes. In fact, a lot of menus will feature only two sections for main courses, Peixe (fish) and Carne (meat). However, most traditional restaurants will have a nice salad on the menu. Unlike some other parts of Portugal, the salads are interesting with lots of veggies, not just some lettuce, onion, tomato and a stray slice of cucumber. In addition, if you don’t see anything on the menu, ask your server, most chefs are happy to prepare something for you.
Probably my favorite traditional restaurant in Viana is Casa de Pasto Maria de Perre. The staff is friendly and they have a fresh salad on the menu. There’s also “Sautéed Vegetable” on offer, which changes according to what’s in season. The wine list is good and I’m always glad to see half bottles available, especially when you’re having lunch and don’t want to end up napping back in your hotel the rest of the day.
There’s also several burger joints in town and most have a veggie burger on the menu. But, for my money, I like À Moda Antiga – Retro Market & Bistro, a hip place decorated with retro radios, cameras, and bikes. They also have a small market with local condiments and snacks. There’s a good wine list to go with their veggie burger.
Foz Viana has an ideal spot on the river. Their veg. options are limited but they have a decent wine list and the view can’t be beat.
Almost every city in Portugal has an Indian restaurant and many of them are very good. Portugal had a colony in Goa, India, so many immigrants have come to Portugal to live and work. In Viana, I like Indian Punjabi Restaurante. They have a dedicated vegetarian/vegan menu with lots of great dishes. Plus, the serving vessels are adorable!
Viana do Castelo is in the Minho province, the area where Portugal’s most famous soup, Caldo Verde was invented.
Caldo Verde is a simple soup made with potatoes, greens, onions, and olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic. The greens are normally a sort of Portuguese Collard called Couve-galega, though Mustard Greens and Turnip Greens are also used. The greens are julienned into ribbons, which is especially useful since they can sometimes be a little fibrous.