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Teixeira de Pascoaes – “Travanca do MOnte – Gateway to Marão”

“(…)

O sítio onde chegara, tinha o nome

De Marãosinho; ali principiava

A Montanha sonhada e prometida,

E a terra bôa e culta ali findava.

As arvores mudavam-se em rochedos,

Como as Nymphas em arvores . . . estranhas,

Duras metamorphoses provocadas

Pelo poder oculto das Montanhas . . .

A ervinha tenra em urze dura e seca,

Por castigo talvez, se convertia . . .

  a ondulação suave dos outeiros,

Sob a força de ignota ventania,

Para nós insensível, mysteriosa,

Turvava-se a distância; e nevoenta,

 Como as marinhas ondas, alterosa,

 Em píncaros subia para o sol.

(…)”

(Teixeira de Pascoaes, Chegada de Marânus à Montanha in Marânus, 1920, p.53)

What would Teixeira de Pascoaes be without Marão?
He would certainly not be the same nostalgic and mystical poet. Pascoaes dedicated a large part of his poetry and much of his time to this mountain range. For her he will have traveled endless paths and lent his solitary look to the rocks and trees.
In this mountain scenery we can highlight two essential places for the poet: Gatão and Travanca do Monte.
In our last article on the places of Pascoaes, we focused on Gatão and the historic center of Amarante, and now we leave you with a suggestion for you to come and discover Travanca do Monte.
Do you accept our company?
In the transition from the Marão mountain range to the Aboboreira mountain range, we can see the peaceful town of Bustelo, a place frequented by Teixeira de Pascoaes during his childhood and in certain periods of his adult life. In this parish, more precisely in the place of Travanca do Monte, the poet’s family had a property, called Casa da Levada. House that currently remains in the family and opens its doors to the public as local accommodation.
Travanca do Monte “stands on a small platform, where the cultivated land ends and the Aboboreira scalvado begins” (Coelho, 1967, p.22).
As we read the verses of Marânus, a teleportation service begins to the slopes of Marão, to the narrow streets of the mountain villages and to the unmistakable landscape of this mountain range. Even today Travanca do Monte proves to be a serene place, punctuated by vernacular structures that insist on remaining, overcoming the action of time and abandonment. It will no longer be that space that Pascoaes walked through on several occasions, economic and social development has allowed progress and the improvement of living conditions in rural communities. However, the mountainous landscape, strong in rocks, trees and liquid lines, signs of a leafy nature prevails and helps us to understand the fascination or even the passion that Teixeira de Pascoaes had for the natural elements.
Like the poet, we all have a house, which we use at specific times, whether to rest, reflect, socialize… The Levada house would be a space of contemplation, solitude and introspection for the philosopher poet, from this location it mountain spirituality, leading it to an abstraction, sometimes ghostly (Ferraz, 2016).
Would you like to know the beauty that Pascoaes’ poetry liberates?
The time has come to immersively experience the peculiar places of this poet from Amarante. We have prepared a personalized itinerary for you, where you will feel, through the words of Teixeira de Pascoaes, the soul of places and their people.

Accept our company to travel the @Rota dos Artistas.

Contact us: info@staytotalk.pt

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Coelho, J.P. (1967). Obras Completas de Teixeira de Pascoaes – Poesia. Vol.I. Livraria Bertrand

Ferraz, R. (2016). Teixeira de Pascoaes Revisitado: um ensaio sobre literatura e ausência. Tese apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura Portuguesa do Departamento de Letras Clássicas e Vernáculas da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo. Brasil.

Teixeira de Pascoaes (1920). Marânus. Porto. Typ. Empresa Guedes.


Sofia Mesquita,

Stay to Talk Instituto de Imersão Cultural