Amarante

From Alijó, continue for about 23 kilometers and turn west on IP4 toward Vila Real. From Vila Real, stay on IP4 to Amarante. You can look forward to a scenic but arduous 50-kilometer drive on the IP4, skirting the northern edge of the Serra do Marao and crossing the River Tamega near Amarante. About halfway, you traverse the Alto do Espinho Pass, 1,066 meters up in the Serra. This area was once heavily forested, but fire and an aggressive, if shortsighted, lumber industry has decimated the wooded slopes. Amarante is a pretty country town built up from the Tamega, which is spanned by an 18th-century bridge.