Viseu HOTELS

 From its high plateau, VISEU surveys the country around with the air of a feudal overlord, and indeed, this dignified little city is capital of all it can see. Its medieval heart has changed little, though the approach to it is now through the broad avenues of a prosperous provincial centre: parts of the walls survive and it's within their circuit, breached by two doughty gateways, that almost everything of interest lies. Surrounded by vineyards, orchards and pine-forests Viseu has been a northern crossroads since the time of the Romans, who chose its site for a military camp, the largest yet to be discovered in Portugal. Today, its main importance is as the centre of the DEo wine-growing region, where crispy white wines and some of Portugal's most popular full-bodied reds are produced.

At the city's highest point is the huge PraA§a da Se , the paved square in front of the cathedral, best approached from the central RossA­o through the Porta do Soar. Here, amid a line of granite buildings, stand the white Baroque facade of the Igreja da MisericErdia and the Cathedral , a weighty twin-towered Romanesque base on which a succession of generations have made their mark. Behind its twin-towered faA§ade lies an elegantly simple Gothic interior featuring a two-storey cloister and fine azulejo glazed tiles in the north chapel. The sacristy boasts one of the finest ceilings in Portugal. Its Renaissance cloister is one of the most graceful in the country, while the rooms of its upper level, looking out over the tangled roofs of the oldest part of the town, house the cathedral's treasures, which include a twelfth-century Bible. The greatest treasure of Viseu, though, is the adjacent Museu GrEo Vasco (Tues-Sun 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; e¬1.25). Vasco Fernandes - known always as GrEo Vasco , the Great Vasco - was the key figure in a school of Flemish-influenced painters which flourished here in the first half of the sixteenth century. The centrepiece of the collection is his masterly St Peter on his Throne .

The tourist office up from the RossA­o, just off Avda. 25 de Abril (Mon-Fri 9am-12.30pm & 2.30-6pm, Sat & Sun 10am-noon & 3-5.30pm; tel 232 420 950), is a good source of information for the region as a whole. Accommodation in Viseu is limited, but there are three decent places right in the centre: PensEo Bela Vista , Rua Alexandre Herculano 510, near the Turismo (tel 232 422 026; E20-25/$32-40/e¬36-45); PensEo RossA­o Parque, PraA§a da RepEblica 55 (tel 232 42 20 85; E20-25/$32-40/e¬36-45); and Residential Duque de Viseu , Rua das Ameias 22, by the cathedral (tel 232 421 286; E15-20/$24-32/e¬27-36). If you fancy a bit of luxury, try the Quinta de SEo Caetano (tel 232 423 984; E30-35/$48-56/e¬54-63) on Rua Julio de Sousa Vieira de Matos, a romantic old manor house. There's a campsite (tel 232 426 146) in the Parque do Fontelo, about ten minutes' walk east of the centre. Some of the best food in the province is to be had at O CortiA§o , 45 Rua Augosto HilErio, where prices aren't too high but tables can be hard to get. Moving on from Viseu, which is a major stopover for routes north, there are regular buses to Lamego via Castro Daire, Guarda, Coimbra, Lisbon and Faro.