Business

Aldeias do Xisto, Portuguese tradition

Janeiro de Cima / Cerdeira (Portugal), Jul 11 ??(EFE) .- (Camera: Carlos García) Acacio is in his 80s and makes wicker baskets in the middle of the street, Isilda milks her goats every morning to make fresh cheese and Rosa Pereira weaves flax. It is the resilience of Portugal's "Aldeias do Xisto", an "Iberian Amazon" in the Portuguese inland. These are 27 villages that have identified themselves as the most ancient rural tourism destination and that in times of COVID have become even more relevant due to the security offered by a region far from large cities.FOOTAGE OF ALDEIAS DO XISTO.SOUNDBITES AND TRANSLATIONS OF:ROSA GOMES, WEAVER FROM JANEIRO DE CIMA: "This part here is the museum and the floor above is the working room where I do my work."ACACIO GASPAR, BASKET MAKER FROM JANEIRO DE CIMA: "I would teach those who wanted to learn, but there's nobody."RUI SIMAO, DIRECTOR OF ALDEIAS DO XISTO: "It's the profound, genuine identity of Portugal. Here we're in the centre of Portugal, and here is where the seed and culture of Portuguese life and culture."ISILDA SANTOS MENDES, CHEESE MAKER AND FARMER IN FERREIRA DE SAO JOAO: "I like straining the cheese well so that the cheese is compact."JOANA SALGADO, COORDINATOR OF CERCEIRA'S CREATIVE ARTISTIC EXPERIENCES: "We have creative offers that last two and a half hours, experiences in the ceramics, figurative art, wood areas."MIGUEL NIETO, ARTIST IN CERDEIRA: "This question that exists inside the artist living in the city who suddenly wants to find a place to rest and think."