Following the main road towards Amarante, we see an imminent façade that appears isolated from afar, dominating the green terraces that sculpture the landscape.

Through a small avenue paved in granite cubes we go slightly up towards the hillside that precedes the Sanctuary. The composition is imposing and the great gray steps limited by an unusual wavy wall draw us to the church.

The mastery of the hillside's composition allowed for all the elements - the sanctuary, the staircase, the flowerbeds, the fountain - to be used in perfect succession dignifying the space.

The staircase gives access to the park, but the strolls have to wait, for stronger is the view unravelled from thence. An admirable panoramic view of the city and the Sousa Valley.

The sound of the water comes from a fountain cut in the masonry wall. More to the side, another one delivers small water squirts to a wavy lake.

As to the garden, the Sameiro Park is an example of the perfect choice of place. Its strategical construction takes advantage of the best views, disclosing our ancestor's mastery in the art of designing gardens.

Embedded in an uncultivated space, with an almost scenery-like presence on the wood landscape, the sanctuary takes great advantage from the view. The main façade opens to the involving valley landscape. Observing the city from the top, the garden appears in the foreground.

The garden spreads in several platforms, accessible through stairs leading us to well-kept flowerbeds, limited by bush hedges (Buxus sempervirens). Inside the flowerbeds, the season's plants give colour and joy to the green scene of bush and ligustrum (Ligustrum ovalifolium) hedges encircling the main staircase and a series of shrubs and plants, such as roses, azaleas, rhododendrons and camelias, compose the flowerbeds.

As the hillside follows, the terrace composition allowed for a space distinction. The oriental area of the Sanctuary, where we find a sort of forest, is also like this.

Following the paths departing from the avenue to the end of the main staircase, we enter the park; the crystalline water that sprouts from a fountain and feeds the lake comes to mark its presence again.

We are surprised by the contrasts of light and shadow of centennial trees. The richness of exotic plants is visible in this garden with some specimen of Platanus hybrida, Tilia platyphylos, Washingtonia robusta, Camelia japonica, among other trees of great height and some shrub, cypress and ligustrum hedges.

These units, along with specimen of the Mediterranean flora, as the oak (Quercus) and the acer, serve as a frame to the scenery of a Romantic garden of notorious English influence. Continuing towards the park's interior we may enjoy more imposing built structures as gazebos, secluded corners, rock benches, two masonry kiosks and a great wavy lake.

Harmoniously inserted in the landscape is, in the garden centre by the lake, a bar. The Lake Bar is a building of modern architectural lines, with a granite, steel and glass structure assuming an intense space liaison with the exterior.

This place has a strong connection to the municipality's traditions. In a not so distant past, the lake was the stage to the famous Lake Party that drew thousands of youths to the place.

The gardens have been kept over the years, however some spaces have been recently subject to a recovery project, an intervention with the purpose of the garden's maintenance and a urban arrangement. With this direction in mind, new parking areas have been built, the public lighting improved, urban furniture placed and a water mirror built as well.