Off Portugal's beaten path, I found culture, family — and belonging - The Boston Globe

Trás-os-Montes is not as touristy as Lisbon, Portugal's storied capital, or Faro, a beach hub in the Algarve home to thousands of British émigres, or Porto, rife with World Heritage Sites. But it's home. And for travelers willing to adventure off the beaten path, it offers glorious hiking trails, a portion of the vast Catholic pilgrimage trail called El Camino de Santiago, rich farmland, and plenty of history.

My journey began a few days earlier when I touched down in Porto, the country's second largest city and the gateway to the Lusitanian north.

Throngs of tourists visit the city each year to see the Douro River as it ends its 557-mile meandering journey from Spain to the Atlantic. Along its banks lie many precisely sculpted, terraced vineyards, each a geometric masterpiece of horticulture, their grapes destined for market shelves worldwide as bottles of finely aged port. Many vineyards allow tours, tastings, and stays for those interested.

Exhausted from travel and teetering on burnout from life back home, I had little energy to explore Porto that day. The city can wait, I told myself. I take the Metro to São Bento train station, a former Carmelite convent that has been the center of Portugal's northern rail network since the late 19th century. Today, it remains a transit hub just beyond Porto's Historic Center, a packed tourist destination. It is also one of the best examples of the Portuguese art form of azulejo, blue and white glazed tiles arranged to show scenes from mythology, history, and daily life; more than 20,000 tiles grace the station's entrance hall.

São Bento serves as a center for Comboios de Portugal, the state rail line, which sells tickets to nearby Terminal Intermodal de Campanhã, a bus and train hub. I got to Campanhã the next morning after spending the night at the Casa dos Lóios boutique guesthouse (+351 936 242 512; from $140) near São Bento. The bus ticket to Vidago costs $16.

After Mãe holds me for a moment at the bus stop, we head to Largo do Olmo — Elm Tree Square — a neighborhood that visually dominates Vidago. A steep hill populated by residences, it is crowned by an old clock tower with a view of the Tâmega River. At the foot of Largo do Olmo is a tiny bakery called Padaria da Raposeira (+351 276 325 138). Bakeries open early and close late and are the best bet for food between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., when most restaurants are closed.

Mãe takes me to Raposeira for coffee, pastry, and a reunion with her cousin Gina. I sit entranced as they reminisce about childhood, and occasionally pop in with questions.

Gina regales me with a story about Mãe being the first woman in Loivos to wear jeans — and the guff she received for it, Mãe laughing all along.

I ask Gina if my mother had been a rebel in her youth.

"Não tanto," Mãe interjects. Not really, a hint of mischief creeping into her voice.

All this history infuses deeper flavor into the galão, a Portuguese latte with proportionally more coffee than its American counterpart, and two pastéis de Chaves before me. These flaky, buttery, warm treats filled with minced, seasoned veal start at around $1 each and are a common part of the local working person's breakfast.

Nearby is the Vidago Palace Hotel (+351 276 990 902; from $243), a luxury establishment built after King Luís I, who ruled the country from 1861 to 1889, made frequent visits to the area's medicinal springs and put the rural backwater on the European tourist circuit. Today, you can stay at the enormous pink edifice, which dominates the 250-acre property surrounded by woodlands, in one of its 57 rooms or 12 suites.

Mãe has a rental car ready to take us to Loivos. The more rural areas here have some basic public transit, including infrequent buses and taxi service, though buses are more readily available in the urban core of the municipality of Chaves — whose jurisdiction encompasses several surrounding towns including Loivos and Vidago. But to explore this remote corner of Iberia, it is best to rent a vehicle.

The Palace would be a lovely place to rest for the night, but my home for the next week is my Tia Catarina's house in Loivos, a 10-minute drive east.

The town was built along the slopes of a verdant mountain. The homes and businesses along the main drag (including two cafes, the town hall, and a chapel) have modern aesthetics. But a right turn up a cobbled road through Loivos's center, called Rua Principal, takes you on a steep climb back several centuries. In under a minute, you hit the town square, Largo do Cruzeiro, next to the home of my Tia Filomena and Tio Alberto.

Continue up Rua Principal, and you'll reach the main church overlooking town, where funerary rites for my maternal grandparents took place in the 1960s. Mãe regularly passed stories of them onto me, but the one that always stuck was my grandmother's passing.

Avó Ana was a widely beloved figure in the town, always willing to share with those less fortunate. She died young from cancer and, according to Mãe, townspeople held a vigil outside the home the day of her death. They later relayed that the moment she died, two doves flew out of the window and disappeared into the sun.

Loivos is a small town — and it has gotten considerably smaller, at least in terms of population. According to the 2021 census by Statistics Portugal, 586 people live in Loivos, an almost 22 percent decrease from 2011. Since the 1960s, local youth — Mãe included — have left the area searching for jobs in big urban centers, part of a migration that has left a rapidly-aging population in places such as Chaves.

Chaves itself has ancient roots. One of its most famous landmarks is the Roman Bridge — a Ponte Romana — a crossing over the Tâmega erected under Emperor Trajan in the second century. Today, the area is a business district with restaurants and shops catering to locals and tourists alike.

In 2005, construction crews stumbled across the remains of Roman baths while excavating in front of the courthouse. Plans shifted toward creating a free museum, opened in 2021, showcasing the ruins of the baths that once served residents.

Steps away is a narrow road called a Rua Direita (the Straight Street) that served as the economic and social heart of the city in medieval times. Indeed, the street retains much of that atmosphere. One can even see baroque Catholic art at the churches of Igreja Matriz de Santa Maria Maior and Igreja da Misericórdia.

All are located by Camões Square, named after Luís Vaz de Camões, author of the epic poem "The Lusiads" and a giant of Portuguese literature. Not too far off is the Torre de Menagem, all that remains of the 14th-century castle that once guarded the city, and home to the Chaves Military Museum (+351 276 348 180, visitchavesverin.com). Visitors can enter for a small fee, and from the top of the site, one can see all of Chaves and its approaches.

This central area is where you are most likely to find affordable lodging. Within the old Forte São Francisco is Forte São Francisco Hotel Chaves, a luxury hotel (+351 276 333 700) offering rooms starting at $76 a night.

Part of the reason for my trip is a vacation from my job as a journalist, but my occupation finds me one evening at Café Michel, a small café with a patio along the highway that runs through Loivos. While everyone else converses or plays cards, I am writing in my journal with a bottle of passion fruit sparkling water in hand.

Though English is my first language, I am learning that it is easier to explore my feelings and emotions in Portuguese. I write about what I have experienced and seen during my stay in Loivos, particularly how the landscapes, the traditions, and people told me that I was among my people. How I was able to find a piece of myself that I felt I had lost.

When I transfer my journal entry to Facebook and post it, it almost feels like therapy. After my cousin Gil shares it, I watch as hundreds of people, who live or have lived in Loivos, comment on it. I feel like I am reclaiming my heritage. The next day, at the café, I hear people discussing what I wrote and remember why I first entered this field.

The feeling calls to mind a line I wrote in my journal earlier in the trip: "Estar na minha terra tem um poder. Tem o poder de me ligar ao passado e assim se cura de dores."

Being in my homeland is powerful. It has the power to connect me to the past and heal the pain.

A few days later, Mãe and I take an early morning bus to Campanhã. I escort her to the airport where she hops on a plane back to Boston.

I take an Uber from the airport to an Airbnb in Porto's Boavista neighborhood, away from the tourist-clogged streets of the Historic Center. You can take a bus for about $2 to the tourist zone, but I prefer the 45-minute walk.

Apart from the extra exercise, it allows me to pass by landmarks such as Mercado Bom Sucesso, once a traditional market but now a more upscale, touristy experience.

For those looking for a more authentic feel, try Mercado do Bolhão (+351 223 326 024), which has its own Metro stop. Find fresh vegetables, meat products, and baked goods for sale, all alongside restaurants catering to more traditional Portuguese tastes as compared with Bom Sucesso. I buy a simple presunto (prosciutto) and cheese sandwich, with a freshly squeezed juice.

There's also Livraria Lello (+351 22 200 2037), said to be the most beautiful bookstore in the world. When I first went there in 2021, I was blown away by its ornate woodwork, grand staircase, and enormous collection of Portuguese books (alongside those in English, French, Spanish, and other languages). But the place has changed. Today, it feels like more of a tourist trap, with foreign language books vastly outnumbering those in Portuguese. One must also contend with the large crowds constantly mobbing the site. Even so, the roughly $9 ticket to visit and experience its architectural grandeur is worth the one-time experience.

My favorite moment in Porto comes when I visit the iconic Ribeira neighborhood to meet my cousin Isidro. He takes me to a churrasqueira, one of the casual, working-class spots serving quick meals for people on lunch break. I order trípas ao estilo portense (Porto-style tripe) — a combo of tripe with kidney beans and rice — and ask Isidro what my mother was like before I was born.

He pauses, then — just as Gina had — recalls the story of Mãe being the first woman in Loivos to wear jeans, a tone of awe in his voice. "She was a woman ahead of her time," he marvels in Portuguese.

His words make me think of a photo I took of Mãe with Tia Mena and Tio Alberto back in Loivos. An image of three older people, marching forward, together, uphill toward the church; keeping tradition and life going as long as they can.

Kevin G. Andrade is a journalist based in Rhode Island. Follow him on Twitter @KevinGAndrade. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.