Full article about Touça
Slate-walled Touça, Guarda, keeps its goat-roast Fridays, torch-lit romaria and €5 pilgrim albergue
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The church bell strikes 7.30 pm. In a village of 188 souls, the note rolls from one schist wall to the next and dies somewhere among the almond stubs—half the grove was lost to the 2017 frost.
What you’ll see
Slate terraces stitch the slope, pinning small vineyards and olive trees that have never seen irrigation. Dry-stone walls, a metre thick and cement-free, divide plots like vertebrae in a fossilised landscape.
When to go
18–22 September: Romaria de Nossa Senhora da Veiga. A 800-metre torch-lit procession, open-air mass and village supper on the old school threshing floor. No tickets, no website, just turn up.
Where to eat
Casa da Veiga roasts kid goat on Fridays and Saturdays only. Book by Thursday on 279 764 312; lunch is served at 1 pm sharp, cash only.
Walking the Caminho de Santiago
Yellow arrows and scallop tiles lead through the hamlet. Potable water at the wayside cross; last shop 12 km away in Vila Nova de Foz Côa. Parish albergue: €5, hot shower year-round; key from the parish-council president—ask for António.
Heritage detour
Côa Valley rock-art park, 8 km south. Final tour 5.30 pm, €6. You’ll need your own wheels—the tourist train leaves from Canada do Inferno, unreachable by bus.