Viagem Medieval

Every August, the old centre of Santa Maria da Feira goes back to the Middle Ages. The Viagem Medieval — the largest historical re-enactment of the Iberian Peninsula — fills the streets and the castle grounds with markets, camps, knights and spectacles, in days of festivals that draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the town south of Porto.

The festival

The Viagem Medieval was born in the 1990s and grew, year after year, into a great staging of medieval life: each edition recreates a period of the history of Portugal and of the town, with a court, an army, artisans, merchants and beggars living for some days within the walls of the old town and around its castle. The programme includes tournaments on horseback, theatre, music and a great medieval market.

What to see

• The medieval market, with its artisans and stalls.
• The camps, parades and spectacles of the festival.
• El Castelo de Santa Maria da Feira, the stage of the festival.
• The old town and its streets, animated day and night.

Visiting

The festival takes place each year in late July and August, over several days and weeks; tickets, dates and the full programme are published each year by the organisation. Santa Maria da Feira is easily reached by road and train, around half an hour from Porto.

Nearby

The city of Aveiro and its canals lie a short drive to the south, completing a journey through the lands between Porto and the Ria.

Information: viagemmedieval.com.

Image credit: Medieval fair of Santa Maria da Feira, by Béria Lima de Rodríguez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.