May 21, 2008, Viseu, Portugal

Continuing with our 2008 trundle around Europe, we decided to head east from the Atlantic coast and the tawdry town of Barra and get back to Spain which, by now, had started to look quite attractive. About halfway across, on the A25 road, is the city of Viseu.
The Romans kept a 90 acre garrison on the hilltop that eventually became Viseu. In the 6th century, the Suevi tribe of the Vandals drove the Romans off and installed a Catholic regime on the area. The Visigoths, in turn, frightened off the Vandals in the 7th century but shortly thereafter, were themselves ejected by the Moors.
The Moors hung in until the 12th century when King Alfonso V of León drove the Moors away and annexed the area into the County of Portucale. Later, when Dom Afonso invented the Kingdom of Portugal, Viseu became part and of it. Check out a few of the local sights here.