Walking in Portugal: hiking

Alentejo, an excellent Portuguese region for walking - part 2/2

2:02 PM David Monteiro 0 Comments Category : active vacation , adventure , Alentejo , Europe , Évora , food , gastronomy , hiking , Portugal , roman impire , romans , travel , trekking , vacations , Vila Nova de Milfontes , walking , where to go , wine

Unknown places to walk - the river Alva dams

11:48 AM David Monteiro 0 Comments Category : active vacation , adventure , Coimbra , culture , Europe , hiking , Northern Portugal , Portugal , trekking , vacations , walking , where to go

Alentejo, an excellent Portuguese region for walking - part 1/2

10:58 PM David Monteiro 0 Comments Category : active vacation , adventure , Alentejo , Europe , food , gastronomy , hiking , Portugal , travel , trekking , vacations , Vila Nova de Milfontes , walking , where to go , wine

The Alentejo conveys the serenity of an old place where tranquility lives.

When walking in these plain lands we understand that the landscape is what the view does not reach and is also where life focuses under the shade of a sweltering Sun protector “chaparro” – chaparro is how the local people call the young cork trees.

But who only knows the Alentejo cereal grow plains does not know the diversity of this region that, like its country, excels in diversity.

The Alentejo is also synonymous of water concentrated in large lakes and fluent rivers. But the cereal fields are, without a doubt, what our memory better keeps alive when we crossed these vast plains.

This region hides its treasures.

We often drive many kilometres in which everything that we find is the repeated plain. However, suddenly the whole landscape changes as is the case of the “Minas de São Domingos” (São Domingos Mines) where its business card is a huge pond that the locals call Tapada Grande.

This region only reveals its treasures to whom is dedicated to look beyond what the eyes can see without effort.

The golden plains caressed by breezes forms waves who wander through the cornfields and make us astounding. These waves bring with them a strong sweet odor that is difficult to forget.

Foreigners in these lands hear people talking about the “monte” (hill) and confuse this typical house with an elevation on the ground. The locals laugh about this naivety.

In this quest for knowledge of the local culture borne the love for a land where men with powerful voice sing together the "cante alentejano”, the traditional music sung by male choir.

We hear about mountains, rivers and coastal areas where the Alentejo takes other forms and our gaze jumps to the Costa Vincentina, by the Atlantic Ocean. On this trip we are attracted by river that stands out on the map, is the River Mira that in a more lively extension connects this village with Vila Nova de Milfontes on a fluvial route that I dream in put in place.

Vila Nova de Milfontes is reference of Alentejo with regard to coastal tourism. A town that lived from the fishing activity on the old days but that its natural beauty and the excellent conditions for summer place increasingly attracted bathers.

In this journey through the map our look back to the interior. Yes, it is true that we jump from one side to the other, but is the more human side of the heart the more emotional side leading this trip.

I will stop now because for the next post we will have to open a time portal and jump to roman times.

Join me for a walk in Alentejo.

David Monteiro

Visiting Portugal - where to go, what to visit?

10:06 AM David Monteiro 0 Comments Category : active vacation , culture , Douro Valley , eating in Lisbon , Europe , food , gastronomy , hiking , history , lisbon , port wine , Porto , Portugal , Setúbal , Sintra , where to go

Walking in the Serra da Freita – must see / must do

10:02 AM David Monteiro 0 Comments Category : active vacation , adventure , Arouca , culture , Europe , food , gastronomy , hiking , Northern Portugal , Portugal , Serra da Freita , vacations , walking , wine

I'm a little nervous about writing this post. “Serra da Freita” (Freita’s hills) is one of the places that inspired me to start this long walk to become a professional on Active Tourism and I do not know if I will have enough talent in the art of writing in order to fairly reward this site.

However, I feel that this blog will never be complete if it does not have some something written about Serra da Freita.

I've done a lot of hiking in the hills area, repeating the same and doing many others that I never had the opportunity to repeat.

“Serra da Freita” is also an area where I did many other activities besides walking such as climbed, canyoning, hydrospeed and rafting not far from here.

However, this being a blog of walking, I will confine myself to this theme.

The translation of “Serra” is hills or small mountains and we often use the

word “Serra” for the name of a short mountain area. Here I will be writing about Serra da Freita as well as about Serra da Arada.

Frecha da Mizarela

This waterfall, with more than 70 m high, is the business card of Serra da Freita.

Is part of a system of cascades that as a whole exceeds 90m high.

This beautiful waterfall landscape and the vision of many other smaller waterfalls is what we can expect when we walk in this area.

Ribeira is a small village that lies at the foot of this system of cascades and the trail that goes along this watercourse could not be more spectacular. Here you will find many small ponds where you can bathe in the crystal-clear waters or simply enjoy showering at the waterfalls.

When we walk from Ribeira to Mizarela we can choose between walking along the watercourse as I mentioned or, from a certain point, choose a little "detour" and climb (very easy climbing) some rocks on the right side of the waterfall Frecha da Mizarela. Is a low-difficulty climbing but that of course always requires some care.

All the people who made this trail with me felled in love for place, is without doubt a fabulous hike.

This trail requires us to cross a small pond so we better have our swimming gear with us and a nice pair of rubber sandals.

It’s so fun to walk this trail that nobody forgets it.

A rock giving birth to another rock

Talking about a rock giving birth to another rock looks like we are talking about the “Lord of The Rings” saga but this time it's really true.

There is a rare geological phenomenon which results in the granite rock releasing some crystals that will form new chunks of rock. Apparently, this phenomenon can only be seen in two places in the world, near Castanheira, a village in Serra da Freita and somewhere in Russia. I do not know if whether there will be other places but as much I investigated there is only these two places.

It is very interesting to see the new stones because they look like flattened black eggs and on the mother rock you will find kind of a nest where the “baby” rocks was formed.

See the translated version of Wikipedia at: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedra_parideira

Tungsten mine - Rio de Frades - Cabreiros - Tabelião

Rio de Frades (River of Friars) is a small village deeply marked by what used to be a tungsten mine.

The tungsten mine’s, today in ruins, began in 1914. This metal hardens the ammunition and makes them more resistant.

These mines belonged to a German company named "Mining Company of North of Portugal", drilled more than 6 km of holes along the river from where they extracted this rare metal to be sold during the first and second world wars.

Nowadays you will only find its ruins and a small highly stratified village, as it was the standard way of living in those contexts of mining communities.

The river with the same name as this village, has fabulous landscapes hidden in its valley. Small turquoise lakes and astonishing cascades are only accessible using the techniques and knowledge to do so.

Walking along the trail from Rio de Frades we will arrive to Cabreiros a charming village with lovely stone houses, a typically village. From here we can go until Tebilhão on bucolic trail, flanked by granite stone walls.

From Póvoa das Leiras to Covêlo de Paivô

After the stone houses of the village (Póvoa das Leiras) there is a trail that leads us to a stone platform path that goes almost until Covêlo de Paivô, downhill always at half-slope.

Despite not having any proof, this route appears to have been a work of Romans, is one of those trails that one must put on the list of must-sees.
After this long walk we will arrive to Covêlo of Paivô, but not before crossing a large natural pool ... a bath is “compulsory”. The crystal clear water with small fishes makes us feel like it should be in paradise.

Arouquesa beef and goats from the hills

The sighting of grazing cattle when we walk is always an interesting moment and here these moments happen often because breeding is a strong source of income to the locals.

Around here we can find mainly cows and goats.

The arouquesa cow breed is highly appreciated and its meat reaches high values on the market is.

Arouquesa cows are docile animals with a candid look and with an impressive pair of horns that easily awakens your deepest sense of respect.

Goats are also very numerous and abundant are also the products that this animal provides us such as the milk to do goat cheese ... nhummy :)

Covas do Monte is another small village with an interesting particularity: is has about 75 inhabitants and we can find here more than 2000 goats coming out every day in the morning to go graze on the hills, a spectacle worthy of seen and living as a shepherd for one day.

Gastronomy

There is no place in Portugal about which there is not a lot to talk about gastronomy and this area is no different.

I would like to point out two typical dishes: Serra da Arada lamb baked in wood-burning oven and the roasted aroquesa veal.

They are both, of course, dishes based on products of the mountains such as the veal aroquesa, the lamb, vegetables and other products, both worked with the traditional techniques and equipment as the wood-burning oven, trays and platters of clay and slowly baking the meat to be tender and without losing their juices and flavors.

Of course the wine we drink around here is the Dão doc but on this spectacular wine I'll write a post one day.

Are you willing to meet the Serra da Freita and Serra da Arada? I hope so:) Here I am to go walking with you in the Serra da Freita and share these wonders.

David Monteiro

Arrabida Natural Park - a special walk

4:26 PM David Monteiro 1 Comments Category : active vacation , adventure , Arrabida , culture , Europe , food , gastronomy , hiking , Portugal , Sesimbra , Setúbal , vacations , walking , wine

I'm at the top of the Arrábida Hills, around me a breathtaking view makes me wonder why I don't come here more often … I love this spot.

The look on my teammates faces is of who can't find words to express himself. The ideas my teammates can express are fragmented and disconnected.

We are at the summit of the Arrábida Hills called Formosinho with 501m, also the highest point in the District of Setúbal.

For many mountaineers reaching the Summits of the mountains they hike is always a goal in itself. I do not feel the call of that goal. I can say that usually I see the Summit has as interesting but I give more value to the entire journey the reach and return from the top.

This Summit is not difficult to achieve and does not represent any true challenge to overcome. So, why is it so interesting?

The type of view we can have here is so diverse and so full of details that there are few other ridges that give us such a variety of elements.

Here we see the sea, the mountains, other small ridges, the cropland with vineyards, the fruit tree fields, the urban sites … is so diverse that for each side we turn we have a unique setting.

The vision of the sea is the one that attracts me the most, there seems to be an endless beach. I felled in love-me with this 360-degree vision.

The surrounding area is very interesting and we have many point of interest around here.

For ease of explanation, I marked the Formosinho summit with a red dot and I divided the post in 4 quadrants and in counterclockwise I will speak of each quadrant at a time.

South/East Quadrant

The Tróia peninsula dominates the landscape, a long tongue of sand headed by some buildings I know to be with summer apartments. Around this peninsula we have a large sand outer ring and on the ocean side it extends to an immense beach.

On the river Sado side, I imagine the dolphins we see there. I know they names, which gives us a pleasant sensation of familiarity with these dolphins.

The green dots that we see moving on the River are the new ferries that make the crossing between Setúbal and Troy. Always liked this crossing, is an excellent boat trip.

Tróia has a quite interesting roman heritage I will explore one day in a dedicated post.

Here I can not see all of the Sado River estuary but to by seeing this river mouth I remember some hidden places in the estuary which are authentic treasures, such as the archaeological station of Abul with their Phoenician heritage.

In this quadrant by the sea is where you will find the most impressive beach are of the surroundings. Portinho da Arrábida, Figueirinha and Galapos are really the best beaches around … crystal clear waters, fabulous.

North/East Quadrant

When I turn on eastbound I'm in the direction of Setúbal, despite not being able to see the city but see the end of its industrial belt which creates me mixed feelings. In my mind is contradictory the need for development with the awareness of a natural environment conservation of a diversified place as the Sado estuary.

Setúbal, where our famous 18th and 19th century writer Bocage was born and to whom is attributed a lot of anecdotes and funny sayings.

Looking in the direction of Alcochete, almost facing the north side, I try to see the Ribatejo plain areas but I can’t no longer distinguish the settlements.

North/West Quadrant

Here you can see Lisbon and from the city I can only distinguish little more than a jumble of houses that seem to be glued to the Sintra Hills, is the effect of a view from a far because in reality Strintra is a 30-minute drive from Lisbon.

In this direction I can see many vineyards and, although I have difficulty to distinguish them, but continuing to talk about wine, down there I know that two wine producers that are considered to be in the Gallery of the best wine producers in Portugal: Quinta da Bacalhôa and José Maria da Fonseca.

Somewhere there you can find Muscatel grapes used for the production of the famous wine Moscatel de Setúbal. The Moscatel de Setúbal wine is considered the best in Moscatel in the world. Moscatel de Setúbal wine is a fortified wine of amber color, which I love.

Watch this 2 minutes and 30 seconds funny and interesting video that pretty much explains the Muscat wine of Setúbel. The Moscatel de Setúbal wine

In the small village of Azeitão also find two other extraordinary products: Azeitão cheese and pies Azeitão.

The cheese of Azeitão is a small cheese made with sheep's milk, yellow colored and very soft, buttery, excellent for spreading on toast.

Tortas de Azeitão is a small cake rolled up, made from flour, eggs, and is delicious.

South/West Quadrant

When I turn to the quadrant W/S and face down, where we will to go to get out of here, I see some crosses on the silhouette of the hills to the sea. They belong to the Arrábida Convent complex.

By their modesty and quiet life, isolation and description, this convent always has an aura of mystery around it. Looking at the road we see a complex of old buildings and, further up, across the hills, a set of shrines and crosses that give us the feeling of being meditation cells of the monks of the convent.

The construction of the Arrábida Convent dates back to the 16th century and today covers four structures: the Old Convent, the New Convent, the garden and the Bom Jesus sanctuary.

A local curiosity refers to the existence of a chapel prior to the construction of the convent and it was a place of pilgrimages. Long time ago, four of the friars who came to join the convent, lived for two years in excavated cells. I am thinking of the lives lived here … is hard.

Toward the West we can't see the village of Sesimbra because is in between two hills. Sesimbra is a small fishing village with a very busy port and also has a beach that is filled with swimmers during the summer. Summer nights in Sesimbra are animated by the numerous restaurants that serve fish dishes grilled on the middle of the streets.

Continuing West we have the Cape Espichel, whose sea view is also fabulous and is an excellent spot for night photography on full Moon days.

Maybe it's time to walk down ... This is a great walk that I will repeat whenever I can, perhaps in the gallery of the most emblematic walks in Portugal.

One day I will walk up here to stay overnight and see the sunrise.

David

Gerês - National Park Peneda Gerês

8:55 AM David Monteiro 0 Comments Category : active vacation , adventure , hiking , Portugal , trekking , walking

One can’t talk about walking in Portugal without talking about the National Park Peneda Gerês, or just Gerês as we usually refer to it here.

We have quite a good number of protected areas in Portugal but we only have one national park and that is Gerês.

Gerês is located up north and its northern boundaries are part of the frontier between Portugal and Spain, please check the little map inserted in this post - is an image from Wikipedia.

The Park was established in 1971 and occupies an area of 70 000 hectares (172 974 acres) which is around 1% of the Portugal's territory … that can give you an idea of how important is the National Park for us.

I’ll not go through all the data concerning the Park, for that you can access to Wikipedia (click here) and you will find a lot of common knowledge. I rather prefer tell you what can you expect by going there and some of my own thoughts about it.

Gerês is very much linked with the Portuguese concept of outdoors, into the wild, Nature and green landscapes with huge rounded granite stones.

I remember when I started with my tour leading professional activities, everybody was asking me if I was taking my guests to Gerês, they was not asking any other places, just about Gerês.

Like Portugal in general, Gerês is a quite diverse area. During the summer, if you go walking there, you will find beautiful waterfalls and lovely green small hills but you can also find warm, dry, hard landscapes and that is part of its beauty.

Personally I prefer to go there during spring or fall, especially fall with the brown, red and yellow colors, very nostalgic. Spring is a cheerful season with light green tonalities and small flowers everywhere ... quite lovely.

A distinctive feeling of Gerês is an atmosphere of mysticism … witches, spelling, uuuuuuu, scary ehehehe. In fact there is an yearly fair of the occult in a small village called Vilar de Perdizes close to the Park.

A few years ago some wolfs returned to the Park and all the country was quite proud, it was breaking news in all TV channels. Don’t be afraid because you won’t see them, they suffered too much and for too long with mankind so they are quite well hidden in the woods way from everybody.

In Gerês there are a lot of animals you may easily find by walking there, small animals I mean, also quite a number you will only find in posters, unless if you are an expert hiker.

Walking in Gerês you will find garrano horses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrano ) and the barrosã cow, both local breeds. Boars are also quite common, however also very difficult to see because they are hunted.

Another local breed, but quite often not considered in tourist information, is the Castro Laboreiro dog. This dog breed has a quite rough look, is a hard working cattle dog and has an interesting characteristic, instead of licking the water to drink it like any other dog, he sips the water as wolves do.

For those who loves flora this is the place to see impressive woods of English oak (Quercus pyrenaica) and plenty of lily’s that grow everywhere. You can find here an herb called “Hipericão-do-gerês” (tutsan - Hypericum androsaemum L.) from which you can make a nice infusion, the flavor and smell I remember from when I was a kid in my grand-mothers place.

Some other animals can be found in the Park like golden eagles, roe-deers and many others but more difficult to find.

There many ways of accessing to the Park, personally I prefer two of them:

- Campo do Gerês (clic here to see where it is)

- Mezio (clic here to see where it is)

The entrance via Campo do Gerês gives the visitor a direct door to Nature. From here you will access an unpaved road where you will find the river Homem (means man) and many waterfalls and places to take a swim – the water is quite cold.

Going through Mezio you will access Soajo, a small village where you can see a national monument called Espigueiros.

An “espigueiro” is a place to store corn, a stone construction with a very peculiar shape.

At Soajo you will find 24 espigueiros close to each other, some of them are dated from late XVIII century AD, when the corn was brought to Portugal from the New World.

This post is getting too long and there are so much to say about Gerês that later I will have to write a few posts more about Gerês.

To be continued …

David Monteiro

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Walking in Portugal

Quality Tours

Alentejo, an excellent Portuguese region for walking - part 2/2

Unknown places to walk - the river Alva dams

Alentejo, an excellent Portuguese region for walking - part 1/2

Visiting Portugal - where to go, what to visit?

Walking in the Serra da Freita – must see / must do

Arrabida Natural Park - a special walk

Gerês - National Park Peneda Gerês

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