Praça Deu-la-Deu

Praça Deu-la-Deu is the main square of Monção, a border town on the Minho river in the far north of Portugal, and it takes its name from a woman who, according to the town's most famous legend, saved the place from a siege with a loaf of bread. The square is the social centre of the old town, lined by buildings from different periods, with cafes and shops at ground level and a statue of the heroine that tells the story to passers-by.

The legend belongs to the 14th century, when Portugal and Castile were at war, and the border towns of the Minho were regularly attacked. In 1368, so the story goes, a Castilian army laid siege to Monção, and after weeks of blockade, the town's food ran out. The defenders were close to surrender when a woman named Deu-la-Deu Martins, whose husband was among the garrison, took the last of the town's flour, baked loaves of bread and threw them from the walls onto the besiegers, saying, as the tradition has it, that the town had so much that it could waste food on its enemies. Believing that the town could hold out indefinitely, and perhaps fearing that their own supplies were low, the besiegers lifted the siege and went away. The woman became the heroine of the town, and her name, said to be a corruption of a phrase meaning God gave her, was passed down in the town's name for its main square and in its coat of arms, which features loaves of bread.

Today, the square is a friendly place, framed by the town hall and other buildings and shaded by trees, with a stone bench around the statue. Cafes and restaurants set tables outside, serving local food and drink. The most important local product is the white wine made from the Alvarinho grape, grown in the Monção and Melgaço sub-region, one of the most distinctive white wines of Portugal, with aromas of peach and citrus and a fresh acidity, and the area is also known for lamprey in season, river fish and the hearty dishes of the Minho. Shops sell wine, regional sweets and crafts. Markets and fairs fill the square on certain days, and the town celebrates the legend in a festival.

Around the square, the lanes of the old town, enclosed in the remains of its walls, contain the parish church, medieval gates and the fortress, which was modernised in the 17th century with star-shaped bastions. A pleasant riverside promenade leads along the Minho, and the thermal baths of Monção and the manor of the Palácio da Brejoeira, a neoclassical estate with Alvarinho vineyards, can be visited nearby.

The square is open to everyone at all times. Visit in the evening, when the town is lively, and sample a glass of Alvarinho. It suits food and wine lovers and history enthusiasts.