2 Best Sights in Vila Real, Northern Portugal

An exceptional baroque mansion believed to have been designed by Nicolau Nasoni (architect of Porto's dashing Clérigos Tower), the Casa de Mateus sits 4 km (2½ miles) east of Vila Real. Its U-shape facade—with high, decorated finials at each corner—is pictured on the Mateus Rosé label (though that is the full extent of the association, as the wine's producer is not based here). You may visit the house museum using an audio-guide, but if you take a guided tour (€26) you willl not only also take in the chapel, with its still more extravagant facade, but be free afterwards to explore the formal gardens, which are enhanced by a "tunnel" of cypress trees that shade the path. 

The finest baroque structure in Vila Real, this fan-shaped building with a facade dominated by two pairs of heavy columns totally outshines the city's austere Gothic cathedral, round the corner. Built in the 18th century and dedicated to Saint Peter, and also known as the Capela Nova (New Chapel) it's believed by some to have been designed by Nicolau Nasoni, architect of Porto's church of the same name, with its iconic tower. It is open for mass at 9:30 am Tuesday through Saturday.