Felgueiras Stª Quitéria - WRC 2024 Portugal - Morning / Riding Portugal

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog :-)

A few weeks ago, while I was working, I had to go to Felgueiras to visit a client. I hadn't been there for many years and the memories all came back in a flash.
I have a large family spread across some cities in the North and Center of Portugal.
During the summer holidays, my cousin Rui would come and pick me up to spend a week or two at my aunt and uncle's house. My aunt Glória and my uncle Pinto had 6 children. The older ones were forced to work in the summer to help out and the younger ones spent their days playing and bathing in the river.

The area was not at all urbanized and we followed the middle of the hill or on dirt paths everywhere. At that time there was no great fear and we were freer than we thought. I got home and told my husband that I would really like to go back and explore this area a little more to see if without GPS I could still find my way there.
Coincidence or not, the following week my husband @aleister was offered two tickets to watch the Rally de Portugal in the Felgueiras area!
I would like to thank @cryptosimplify in advance on behalf of myself and @aleister :)
Also leave a special thank you to @valueplan for offering access tickets to the venue and for sponsoring several marketing initiatives that promote Hive

Sometimes I wonder if the Universe really conspires in our favor :-) That's why I had the opportunity to return to Felgueiras and watch the Rally de Portugal from the front row for the first time and see Hive's car passing right in front of us , along with other members of our community we met there.

We woke up very early (6 am) to be able to see all the participants leaving. The place was very well identified and along the way we had several signs to guide us and we even passed some of the participants on the road.

There we all went on a pilgrimage until we reached Santa Quitéria.
I never thought I would see so many people at that time of the morning (from kids to adults) and the entire staff was already working. We saw a lot of people with the tent, grills, columns, tables and umbrellas :-) They arrived the previous Thursday to save a place and watch everything! The environment is brutal and I'm honest, I never thought I would like it so much. As this was the starting point, it wasn't crowded with people, so we were able to take brutal photos, see everything without being in the middle of the chaos.

The noise is deafening and the dust in the air is something. But as we got a place on the bench, we were more protected. In the afternoon the story was no longer the same!
We felt the adrenaline in the air, the crowd shouting the drivers' names, the noise of the skids and gears and the joy of seeing the participants passing by.

Everyone supports their favorite and we learned the names of the drivers and how they are distributed in the rankings by listening to others talk.
Cell phones always overhead to film and take photos until the last car passes.
We then took the opportunity to have a snack and watch the helicopters land right next to us.
Some accompany the participants along the route and I've seen brutal photos :-)

Everyone was in a good mood and as we had to wait for lunch we went to explore the area.
The rally stage is installed in Alameda de Santa Quitéria, which is huge but it is not possible to get a sense of all the surrounding green space given the number of tents, people, police cars and firefighters installed there these days.

Going up the Alameda we came across a Sanctuary where a baptism was taking place.
Devotion to Saint Quitéria, considered a saint martyred on Mount Columbino, makes this sanctuary one of the main pilgrimage sites in the region. Access to the mountain and the sanctuary is via a zigzag route, with chapels that symbolize the eight episodes of the saint's life.

We chose not to go to the front of the Sanctuary given the celebration that was taking place and the family photos so I no longer have any images of this place. We stopped at the back where there is a balcony and rested and enjoyed the view of the city. The day wasn't even halfway through and I have a lot more to show you, but I'll leave that description for a future article :)

I hope you enjoyed.
See you around.
Wishing you much peace and health

Those who pass by us do not go alone. They leave a bit of themselves, taking a piece of us."
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince.

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Text & Photography by @Onyfest

With love @onyfest