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

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

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 

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.you can bathe in the crystal-clear waters or simply enjoy showering at the waterfalls.

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.

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.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.

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 t

hat 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

Location: Arouca, Portugal

Link to the original article

Mudejar Architecture in Teruel, Spain

Mudejar Architecture in Teruel, Spain.

In 711 AD Moorish troops crossed the Strait that today we know by the name of Strait of Gibraltar and in less than 20 years they conquered almost all the Iberic Peninsula with the exception of some Christian strongholds like the case of Covadonga up north in the Picos da Europa mountain range.

Obviously this occupation brought profound changes to the local Christian Visigothic civilisation. In terms of the architecture, nowadays we can visit some magnificent monuments left by this Muslim people like the Alhambra or the Cordoba Mosque.

This occupation last for around 700 years, if we count the time between the Guadalepe Battle in July 711 AD and the War of Granada that took place from 1482 until 1492 where the Moorish definitely defeated.

Immediately after the Moorish invasion the Christian started a process called "Reconquista", reconquest that had the objective of regaining their lost territory. Apparently it started with a rebellion lead by Pelayo in 722 AD.

Well, from 722 until 1492 is the period of the Reconquista, around 700 years of a slow transition returning to a Christian society and is during this time and this process that a new architectural style emerges, the Mudejar style. It includes both gothic and Moorish architectural elements.

I truly love History and the period of the Moorish occupation is one of my favorite times in the Spanish History so is not too difficult to imagine how much I love Mudejar style.

Teruel is a city located halfway from Madrid and Barcelona, in the province of Aragon, and an extraordinary example of Mudejar architecture. I love to walk here and imagine how life was back then.

It worth to travel here … oooh yes it does. The Mudejar architectural style is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO (please check http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/378) and Teruel an extraordinary example.

There are plenty of monuments to visit in Teruel and there no need for me to list them here because the information is widely available. However there are three monuments that are my favorits:

The Lovers of Teruel - http://www.teruelversionoriginal.es/Turismo/home_eng.nsf/documento/los_amantes_de_teruel

The Historical Archive of Teruel . http://www.patrimonioculturaldearagon.es/archivo-historico-provincial-de-teruel

Torre de San Martin - http://www.patrimonioculturaldearagon.es/bienes-culturales/torre-de-san-martin-teruel

In future posts I will write about walking trails not too far from Teruel.

Have fun.

David Monteiro

Location: Teruel, Spain

Link to the original article

Unknown places to walk - the river Alva dams

Crossing the river Alva dams.

The river Alva starts in the southwestern part of the Serra da Estrela and goes into the Mondego River upstream of Penacova, around 230km north from Lisbon.

At the mouth of the river Alva, and near Penacova, there are a number of small dams that allow a very interesting walk where we can cross the river several times from one side to the other, as we can see in the photographs of the various wal

ks I led there.

With a good knowledge of the region, it is possible to predict the level of water passing over the dams in such a way that it becomes possible to do the crossings without remove your boots off.

An unknown location, which does not come in tourist guides but well worth a visit and the hiking is fabulous, especially if it's finished with a typical regional dinner with dishes such as “Chanfana” or a Lamprey Rice. I will write about theses dishes later.

Let's walk?

I will be expecting you.

David Monteiro

Walking along the river Douro – Portugal

The Douro Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and walking along the river Douro is a unique experience.

From the belvedere of São Salvador do Mundo (Saint Savior of the World) we can see the huge portion of river Douro.

The belvedere is at 493 m high, at the top of a long slope completely filled with vineyards from where port wine and table Douro wine are produced.

Looking around, the river dominates the landscape. Is like a long snake on its way to the ocean.

Almost all we can see from here are steep shores with vineyards. In the few little spaces that man is not be able to extract wine from the land, proud olive trees will be found whose fruit will produce one of the best Portuguese olive oils, the Douro Valley olive oil.

This is an overwhelming location, a high point from where a huge number of other summits can be spotted, there are countless mountains around here, spread as far as the human eye can reach.

Down the steep slope, very close to the river, the train slips through the railways, it looks like a toy. It's hard to distinguish it and sometimes it seems like a caterpillar being swallowed by the landscape, is in fact the train going into some tunnels existing along the railway.

The walks to the highest points are not easy, especially if you lack of training but with some patience and walking slowly you will overcome the strong inclination of the trails and finally get the reward for the effort by looking to these wide landscapes.

I prefer to walk during the first hours of day. It's usually quite pleasant with a cold breeze and even some fog because the river water condenses in the air leaving a very slight mist which gives a mystical ambiance to the Sunrise complementing this idyllic setting.

This is gold for photography lovers.

As the day progresses it starts to get  warm reaching 40º C or often higher during the summer.

Going down towards the river, we will notice an increase of temperature, especially at half hillside and we understand why these grapes ripen so early and we understand how life can be so hard around here for those who are harvesting vines.

A large part of these grapes are harvested by hand and, during harvesting season, there are numerous teams of people hired from everywhere to participate in the harvest. In other post I will detail a bit more matters concerned with the port wine, the wine production and the harvesting.

Continuing to descend and already very close to the river banks is time to take another trail. Here the air is fresher, tempered by river moisture.

The trail goes quite close and along the railway line of the infrequent train and, when it passes, it's always cause for joy and excitement and I imagine what the people inside will think about the group of walkers who apparently are in the middle of nowhere.

The train stations are perfect locations for brief stops to eat a snack and we can also admire the hand painted tiles.  There is a long tradition of hand painted tiles in Portugal and we can find impressive tile works in these train stations.

In addition to the olive trees the almond trees stands out in number and, the closer we get to Pocinho, the almond trees become more numerous. Is in the Algarve and Trás-os-Montes regions where there are greater abundance of almond trees in Portugal.

When to come here? 

Between April and the end of May and between mid-September to late October the Douro Valley is just perfect to visit and to walk around. Anyway, there is no time better than the other, there are different seasons and with very different scenarios, although this is my favorite months.

Visiting the Douro Valley in September/October you will see the end of the harvesting season. The vines have dark red leaves and the scenario is an impressive spectacle of shades of red and one can take amazing photographs.

The harvesting is probably the most important time of the year and all around there are people carrying baskets of grapes in a huge frenzy.

What else to do? 

In a landscape dominated by the River, the hike could not finish better than with an excellent ride on a Rabelo boat, the wooden typical boat of the Douro River that was once used to transport the barrels of wine to Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto) from where the port was then taken for the rest of the world.

The river waters are usually calm and the Rabelo boat, with its wide hull, is a very stable and comfortable vessel, sailing toward the mouth, to the West.

Ahead of us the sunset, is the end of a fabulous day, a treasure to save.

Suggestion: Magnífico Douro Wooden Rabelo Boats for a boat ride and Quinta de La Rosa for a wine cellar visit,

Where to stay? 

A suggestion: Quinta Nova Nossa Senhora do Carmo

David Monteiro

Location: Pinhão

Please check the original article at my blog in Wordpress