S. P. Q. R.

This morning we saw a tiny piece of the Roman Empire that still hides in the mountains of Portugal. We made a comfort stop in a very small Portuguese town of Ucanha. Here we found a bridge built by the Romans still standing. Not only does the town have a bridge, the roads are also Roman. A number of intersections display Roman milestones. This road was a leg in the original path to the shrine at Compostela. Many centuries ago when part of the bridge collapsed, residents rebuilt it. They were not self-consciously attempting to imitate the Roman style. It was just that the methods, materials and techniques which were in common usage at the time happened to be those the builders had inherited from the Romans. The local tradition states that many of the people here are direct descendants from Rome’s legionnaires. This small community was completely cut off from the outside world until roads were built here early in this century. If one is lucky he can still find pockets in Europe where the Roman Empire still lives. Today we found such a place.Les mer