Marble adds Class to a Town Square

Each morning, Joye and I leave the hotel wondering how the day will provide novelty and interest. This concern has been heightened since leaving the Douro Valley... the weather has taken a turn for the worse... mornings have been wet, misty and cold... afternoons have provided scattered showers... but enough fine weather to allow us to complete our activities. Our room at Marveu had a great view... (including the street we drove up the wrong way).. but this morning you couldn't see 10 metres out the window... the fog and rain were so heavy.

The first 30 minutes of driving were uncomfortable... along narrow winding roads with limited visibility. The locals were used to the conditions and provided another scare factor as they sped through the corners missing us by inches. Once we had descended from our hilltop, the novelty and the interest began. We were following the border with Spain through high altitude country. We were surprised to see the rugged hills smooth out into undulating hills. The towns became less frequent and the trees thinned out to present rich farming country. We saw flocks/herds of animals (we have seen precious few animals before today). We saw fields of knee-high clover in full bloom. (It was daisies!) We saw cork plantations and groves of oak trees. But the best was yet to come.

We drove into the area of Portugal that has marble quarries that produce stone of remarkable quality... and there are tons of it! The quarries have been worked since Roman times. In the medieval sectors of the towns, the old houses have great big blocks of marble used as the door lintel. The houses of the courtiers used the stone to excess. Some had doors made of marble... others thought railings on stairs should be made of it too... as well as the stairs themselves of course. The palaces and cathedrals used the rock for everything. Often the building blocks did not have the marble faced... it was treated as any run of the mill building material. Outside, the pavement was made from marble chips... lightening the streets to provide the luminescent for which Portugal is famous.

And they are not about to run out of the stuff! In the region the quarries are everywhere. Each quarry has a huge pile of stones... we were not sure if they were rejects or next year's inventory.

It's pretty safe to say that Australia will not have towns offering marble-mint beauty. No more villages in Portugal will be given such infrastructure. The world is now willing to pay high prices for Portuguese marble. Its quality is supposed to match the best of what Italy has to offer.