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Chaves
Chaves is a small city in the north of Portugal, located 10 kilometers south of the Spanish border. The population of the municipality (including rural areas) was 44,186 in 2004. The urban area of the city had a population of 17,535 in the same year.
Chaves is known in Portugal for its Roman bridge, the hot water spa, and its football team, Desportivo de Chaves, which although going through a bad period in the Portuguese third division, was once in the First Division and even went to the UEFA championship. In 2010 Desportivo went to the final of the Portuguese Cup, losing to Porto.
Once a rather isolated town, with poor road connections to the coast, Chaves is now only one hour and a quarter from Porto and the Sa Carneiro international airport. With excellent connections to Spain Madrid is only four hours away, the same distance to Lisbon in the south of Portugal.
Although there are many new
apartment blocks in the city the old Medieval
quarter, which was once enclosed in a wall, still preserves
its narrow cobblestoned streets and its castle tower. A
central square with the city hall on the west end and the Santa
Maria Maior church on the east is used for public celebrations.
The old São Francisco convent, once a military fort,
which looks over the town, is now a four star hotel.
North of the city, next to the military base, lies Fort
São Neutel, a seventeenth century construction meant to
protect Chaves from the attacks from the ancient enemy, now a friend,
Spain. As the Portuguese proverb says "de Espanha nem bom vento,
nem bom casamento." From Spain there is neither good wind nor
good marriage. Well, the winds no longer come from Spain
and there are no longer Portuguese royalty to marry Spanish
royalty.
Chaves is located in a fertile valley crossed by the Tâmega River, a tributary of the Douro. Although now most of the economy is based on services and small industries there are still many small farms surrounding the city producing potatoes, barley, hay, corn, and garden vegetables for the local markets. There are also many granite quarries in the area as well as important mineral water springs. One of Portugal's most iconic waters, Aguas das Pedras, is produced nearby.
Recently a casino has been opened as well as in important glass factory, bringing jobs to the area. Once a city of cattle fairs and vegetable markets, there are now two hypermarkets and several medium sized supermarkets. There are countless Portuguese restaurants as well as restaurants serving international cuisine such as Chinese, Italian, and Brazilian. There is even a MacDonalds, for better or worse.
For those who love the sport that Mark Twain said was a "good walk spoiled", there is an 18-hole golf course in Vidago just 15 minutes south of Chaves. The golf course is in a beautiful park-like setting which includes a Victorian-age Spa and a 5-star hotel, the Vidago Palace Hotel.
What really makes Chaves an attractive city to live in are the parks and gardens that make the city so green. A large area grassy area with playgrounds, tennis courts, and football fields borders both sides of the Tâmega as it crosses the city. In the early morning or in the evening families can be seen walking or cycling along the many paths that border the river.
Unique to all border towns, there is the feeling of having contact with two cultures and two languages. In the case of Chaves we even have three, Portuguese, Castillian Spanish, and Galician. The Spanish come to Chaves to walk along the river, eat cheaply and abundantly in the restaurants, shop in the supermarkets open on Sunday, or to buy towels and linens. The Portuguese cross the border, which for all intents and purposes does not even exist anymore, to buy chocolates, tinned seafood, eat octopus, and especially fill their automobile tanks with cheaper Spanish petrol.
Here in Chaves we have the best of two worlds.
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