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WHAT TO DO? | WHAT TO VISIT? | WHERE SLEEP?
Located to the north of the municipality of Arcos de Valdevez, in the upper valley of the River Vez, Aldeia de Sistelo is one of the oldest in Alto Minho, and is a pearl of nature enclosed in a valley at the gates of the Peneda Gerês National Park, very close to the source of the River Vez.
Sistelo is an example of Man's ability to adapt to the singularities and adversities of nature, transforming it in favor of his needs and simultaneously creating a framework of rare beauty that are the terraces.
The agricultural production terraces are the result of human occupation that ended up shaping the landscape, giving it the peculiar characteristic that distinguishes Sistelo, dubbing it “Portuguese Tibet”. Fruit of the need for survival in the past, they are now striking strokes of a living picture that testify to the hard work of subsistence agriculture. With them are also associated the concept of community, mutual help, the need for a people to unite to survive. Community ovens, mills, granaries and a source of life that unites them, “the River Vez”. With it, the levadas (irrigation channels) that cross the terraces and are a vital source for the cultivation of maize and "tarrestre" beans.
As part of its enhancement, in addition to being on the edge of the Peneda Gerês National Park, and included in the World Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO), Sistelo won the national competition "7 Wonders of Portugal" in the category of "Rural Villages" , and became the first "National Monument" landscape in Portugal.
In Sistelo, more precisely in Portela de Alvito, it is one of the only places in the whole of Alto-Minho, where the shepherds purchase and sale fair still takes place, where shepherds are accompanied by heads of cattle. cattle to trade.
