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The village of Albergaria is situated in a sheltered valley a little way up the Ribeira de Ponte de Sotão, 500m from the village of Ponte de Sotão. The valley here is broad and fertile. The Roman road runs close by, and was used in the middle ages as a trade and pilgrimage route. The ‘Quinta da Albergaria’ was built close to the road, and offered lodgings and stabling for the night (the name Albergaria means “place of lodging”). There is a local story about the Quinta from a distant era, that tells of a planned kidnapping and ransom of the owner by some disreputable gang. A servant allegedly spotted, through the keyhole, the knives worn by one of the gang members, and tipped off the owner. He then lay in wait for the gang, feigning sleep – and shot dead the hapless ruffian who first approached him, threatening the others with the same fate. The story concludes with the assertion that the body is buried in the garden in front of the Quinta. In another version of the story, a fake ‘saint’ was brought by some men into the Quinta’s private chapel, as a gift. As before, it was a servant who spotted that the ‘saint’ was up to no good, when she saw his eyes move, and alerted the owner of the Quinta. The owner is said to have hidden himself until the saint pulled back his cowl, then shot him. Once again, his fellow thieves ran away, and left their associate to be buried in the garden. The Quinta was important as an employer, not only in Albergaria itself, but also for people in neighbouring villages, many of whom came looking for work and stayed at the Quinta for the rest of their life. However, instead of payment in money, the Quinta provided accommodation, food and clothes to the worker, and once a year, a pair of boots. This practice is said to have continued into the early part of the 20th century. |
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| Updated 20 June, 2008 | ||||||||||||