#Zona Saloia

[fabien-euskadi]

This is a very, very, very special place: the José Franco Museum-Village.

In the 1950s, a talented potter from the village of Sobreiro, José Franco (last two photos), decided, together with his wife, Helena, decided to create a scale-down version of a typical village from the rural areas of the Mafra County; this area in the northernmost part of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area is commonly known as the Zona Saloia - "Yokel Zone", in English. José Franco (1920-2009) feared that the memory of the rural world he once knew as a child could be lost, and being so, he created a mix of theme park and museum where the visitors can experience a romanticized version of the Yokel Zone as it was a century ago or so.

Everything in this place is magic, from the small stores and houses to the mock-ups of the rural villages of yesterday. It's impossible not to feel like a child again when you enter the school, the tinsmith's workshop, the winery, the windmill...

[fabien-euskadi]

Nine more photos from the wonderful José Franco Village-Museum.

This place is the sole reason why people have heard about the village of Sobreiro. Otherwise, it would be just another place lost between Mafra and Ericeira.