Principe Perfeito Viseu

Viseu: in the heart of Portugal

by J_Antunes

"Lovely City"

Viseu is the most important city of the interior centre of Portugal. The urban perimeter has about 70.000 inhabitants and it was considered the best city in Portugal to live. It has a bit of everything a very beautiful city centre fully recovered, the 2nd biggest mall of Portugal, Palácio do Gelo, (with olympic swimming pools, an ice ring, the minus 5º bar a bar where everything is made of ice, bowling, etc...), the biggest Disco in Portugal (with an indoor karting circuit), and very interesting things to see in the districts around.

"The origins"

One of the legend says that during the times of the recovery of the territory to the moorish, when the forces arrived to the city they said "Que viso eu" (what do I see) but this seems a lot like a forced local legend.
Some people say that the name of the city comes from Vesi, vesigoths.

What can be said is that the city is quite old and that earn importance with the romanization of the Iberian Peninsula do to the fact that it was an important crossroad.

The city is also known to be the land of Viriato, although there are no proofs of that. Viriato was the chief of the lusitanos tribe the local people of this area of the Iberian Peninsula. He fought valliantly against the romans when the invaded the peninsula. He was a beloved leader by his people for its rightness and respected by the romans.

Defending the mountains of Serra da Estrela of the roman invador he started to conquer and unite other tribes inflicting heavy and humillianting defeats to the romans. In 140 b.c. an after a decisive defeat the leader of the romans was captured and promissed authonomy to the lusitano people. When the word spread to Rome, the senate was hummiliated and declared once again war.

The new forces sent by Rome were again defeated. So the new consul called Viriato men to discuss treaties of the authonomy but ended bribing them to kill Viriato. After the death of Viriato it is said that they return to the consul to receive the compensation and were hanged in a public square with a sign "Rome doesn't pay to traitors".