Medelim

Medelim
Known as the «village of balconies», it is surely one of the villages of the Beira region with more of these characteristic and simple verandas made of the local granite: 116 outside specimens and 23 interior ones, besides a few more at the manor-houses, although these exhibit a more formal style and deviate from the primitive and popular model.

The characteristic balcony of the Beira is generally formed by a staircase of large granite slabs, ending in a landing which leads inside the house, also in granite.

It is sometimes surrounded by guardrails or surmounted by pillars, in granite or wood.

Besides giving access to the house, these verandas are often built for providing extra living space on the ground floor, used to keep animals and for storage.

The sites which exhibit the best preserved and most remarkable balconies are the Nova, Victor Peres Franco, Espírito Santo, Ribeirinho and Torre streets, and also the Travessa da Praça («Main Square Alley»).

At the ancient Casa das Freires, which now lodges the Cultural House of Medelim, visitors may admire a more refined model: it is a manor-house built in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Philippine style, extremely rare in Portugal.