Amarante is a handsome town on the banks of the Tâmega, a river that runs out of the hills toward the Douro, and it is built around an old stone bridge. The bridge, dedicated to São Gonçalo, the town's patron saint, was the scene of a fierce stand during the Peninsular War, when local forces held back a French army under Marshal Soult for two weeks in 1809, and the town remembers it with pride. Behind the bridge rises the church and convent of São Gonçalo, with its fine cloister and a tall, tiered facade, and the houses along the river lean over the water with iron balconies and washing lines.
The saint is the key to the town's strangest tradition. Gonçalo is said to have helped people find a husband or wife, and on the first weekend of June the town holds a festival in his honour, during which couples exchange cakes of an unmistakably suggestive shape. Locals are cheerfully unembarrassed. The convent kitchens also gave Amarante its sweet tooth, and the pastry shops sell traditional treats such as foguetes, rich and eggy and shaped like little rockets, which go well with a strong black coffee.
For riders, Amarante is a gateway. To the north lie the green hills and vineyards of the vinho verde country, with small farms and granite villages, while to the south the road climbs over the Serra do Marão into the harsher, drier Douro valley, a landscape of terraced slopes and slow river bends. The roads here are twisty and often steep, with good surfaces and moderate traffic, though trucks on the main routes are heavy. Fog can settle in the valley on autumn mornings, and the mountain roads can be icy in winter.
The town has fuel, supermarkets, hotels and many restaurants, and the riverside terraces are the place to sit and watch the water. Try the local roast kid or the grilled veal with rice, washed down with a glass of cool vinho verde. The town is lively on summer evenings, and the old bridge looks its best when lit from below. Allow time to wander, and take your helmet with you, since the lanes are steep and cobbled and a motorbike is better parked.