We picked up our rental car from Lisbon and headed for the hills. The particular hills we were aiming for were the mountains in Peneda-Geres, Portugal's only national park. It runs up to the Spanish border and has great hiking.
As a general rule, John drives and I navigate. We wanted to go to the tourist office at the entrance to the park first to get some hiking maps so I put that into Google maps and off we went. It was about 4.5 hours to our destination and the drive was good. It wasn't until we got there that I realised we were in the wrong town. Apparently there are five entrance gates to the park! To his credit, John took it pretty well when he learned that he now had to drive an extra hour to get to the right place, We couldn't believe it when I put the correct address in and Google took us through Spain! I don't think I've ever got my navigation so wrong before.
We finally got to Soajo, the correct village! Antonio, the owner of our apartment, met us and showed us around. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven. The apartment had amazing views over the ancient village and surrounding mountains. It was quiet, comfortable and the setting was oh-so-pretty.
The house sat on a small piece of farmland. Antonio and his father before him and his father before him grew grapes, oranges, vegetables and herbs here. An old watermill sat at the end of a still-functioning water channel. Antonio had given us a number of goodies in the apartment including home-made biscuits and wine. When we showed interest in the wine he took us to the cellar, which was the original animal stables that the apartment was built on top of. He had all the wine-making equipment in there. The local wine, called vino verde, doesn't take long to ferment and is often made by people at home. It's delicious!
Everything here is made from local rock - even the very old posts at the end of the grape vine rows!
On our first night, we didn't go out anywhere. We sat at a table on the deck outside our apartment in the pleasant evening air, eating cheese with mini-toasts, apples and Antonio's wife's homemade jam. We drank the bottle of vino verde that he gave us while we looked over the grapes they were made from. The wine had been made and bottled under the house so the total food miles for this wine was about twenty metres! It was magical!
Needless to say, we absolutely loved this place. It was so pretty and everything was so old. The laneway to our house was one of the most beautiful I've seen anywhere. Tiny flowers and ferns peeped out of cracks in the ancient stone walls that lined the equally old track.
Around town, most of the buildings were clearly very old. Built out of local granite, many have been there since the 12th century.
We came here for hiking and the walks were superb. Our favourite walk ran right past our door. Near the start, grapevines grew overhead providing a wonderful shady canopy of vivid green.
The track was made of large slabs of stone. We saw many ruts in the old stones caused by the wheels of centuries of ox-cart traffic.
The views along the way were spectacular.
There were ancient water mills and what looked to us like a Roman bridge, complete with curved upstream posts designed to reduce water pressure on the bridge.
The old stone buildings were amazing.
Much to our surprise we also came across a cluster of beehive-shaped huts. These were apparently used for animal shelters. They were all soooooo old!
Stone walls had been sitting in the shade for so long that moss dripped down them.
The lush greenery seemed to take over everything. Ivy climbed all over this wall.
That night we had a wonderful meal at a local restaurant. It started well when the English-speaking owner, who used to live in the US, gave John a few tastes of local wine. Red wine is always drunk from a white bowl here so the colour of the wine can be seen!
We ate local delicacies such as a special type of sausage, which is eaten on its own as an entree, and beef from the local cow breed, with potatoes and vegetables. There were five tables of us all sitting outside. Between us we were English, American, Irish, French and Australian. The Frenchies left early but the rest of us ended up chatting for a long time. The Irish couple in particular were lots of fun. They were driving a motorhome around Portugal and were having a ball.
The next day we drove north to another area to walk. First we stopped at a tourist office for walking info. There was an ancient dolmen - a burial chamber - outside.
There were some amazing viewpoints along the way.
Walking trails wind all through the national park. We found the start to our walk and started climbing up and up and the views just got better and better.
More mossy goodness.
The views really opened up as we got near the village of Branda de Busgalinhas.
Beautiful wildflowers were everywhere.
"Branda" means summer village. Stock are brought up to these villages in summer then they return to the lower pastures in winter. This village was fairly empty so the stock mustn't be here yet. Someone must have been at this old house though. We often see old people using these sticks as walking sticks.
Many of the buildings appeared to be for stock. The top floor is for storing hay and the bottom floor is for stabling stock in bad weather.
We wound our way down to the village of Sao Bento do Cando.
The views kept changing at every turn.
Back in the car, we often saw stock on the road but horses were less common. These were so quiet they wouldn't move off the road!
Corn was introduced to the area in the 18th century and it changed the way people lived. Suddenly food was easier to get and people prospered. The corn ripened late in the season though so they had to build "espigueiros" (granaries) to store the corn in and let it dry. Amazingly, they built these out of granite. Each family had their own espigueiro.
Back in our village of Soajo, there was a cluster of 24 of these all together. They varied in size but were strikingly perched on a rocky outcrop.
Just as amazing is the fact that these are still used. I photographed this through the aeration slots.
The cows here are gorgeous. They have enormous horns but are very gentle. They roam free at this time of year but I suspect they're stabled in winter.
In the centre of town is a pillory. There are many of these in Portugal. People used to be punished or executed here. It's a horrible reminder of a more brutal past. I've tried unsuccessfully to learn why this one has a smiling face on it!
A water channel ran right through our village, passing through a number of old mills on the way. Next to the main road was the communal laundry where people used to wash their clothes. Some washing is still done there now.
Shops are not obvious here. We found the bakery tucked away in a back street. We also found a hardware store and a cafe that sold a few supplies as well. Then there was the main bar/cafe and, surprisingly, three good restaurants.
Heading out again we visited the Sanctuário de Nossa Senhora da Peneda, a church of special significance. Once a year people make a pilgrimage here, often starting from Soajo and walking along the track outside our house. We pulled up at the car park and were faced with a huge wall of steps.
Lika a Sara Lee cake, there was layer upon layer of steps. As we climbed, separate rooms flanked the stairs. Inside were statues of phases of Jesus' life and the 12 stations of the cross.
We could see the church sitting grandly at the top of the stairs.
It was such a striking piece of architecture. The inside of the church was fairly standard - the wow factor was in the approach.
On another walk we found another gorgeous Roman bridge.
An old watermill was nearby. Tucked under the shade of a huge tree, the roof was covered in moss.
I'm not sure if these are hollyhocks but they were everywhere.
I love the way that tiny plants grew in among the rock walls. Nature's own rock garden.
A community oven for baking bread. It still looked like it was being used. Right next to it was the old town laundry area. It'd be a fair guess to say that they probably channelled the water past the oven and had hot water to wash the clothes in!
At one stage we walked near a house and three enormous dogs came out. They were the local shepherd dogs. They looked like a cross between a labrador and a great dane. They were pretty scary but seemed tame enough, thank goodness.
The landscape kept changing as we walked.
On our last outing from Soajo we drove to a village where there was a great walk to the ruins of an old castle. Again, the views were superb.
We took a different route back and found ourselves walking through a stunning oak forest.
Somewhat out of place was a statue dedicated to the local dog breed. Apparently Portugal has something like 13 unique dog breeds. The ones in the mountains are the huge ones we came across earlier.
At the start of our Portuguese trip, when we were in the south, the food was all based around seafood. In the mountains it's based around meat. Sausages are common as starters then they're followed by huge slabs of meat with heaps of potatoes and a few other vegies, mainly cabbage. It's not really my style of food. I also find it all a little bland but it's ok. A lot of people, John included, love it though.
For lighter meals, I quickly got over ham and cheese toasted sandwiches. They were often the only non- junk food option. They were usually very plain - no butter, spreads etc and usually on white bread.
One good (and dangerous) thing is that they love their desserts here and they're often fabulous! One restaurant we went to offered a handful of entre options, five options for mains and seven options for desserts!
We really loved this town and the stunning National Park. What a fantastic place!
Heather and John
No comments:
Post a Comment