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  • Day 41

    Day 41: Coa Valley

    March 28, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Up early today for an exciting destination - another UNESCO World Heritage site! This time we were visiting the paleolithic rock art sites of the Coa Valley in eastern Portugal. It was about 90 minutes drive away, and we were booked on a 10:15am tour, so it was our earliest start for quite some time.

    Got away with no problems, though delayed a bit in the village waiting for a bobcat to come up a narrow lane the wrong direction. It looked like we were going to be a bit late, but some sensible driving meant that we arrived one minute ahead of schedule.

    Since it's only a small operation, our tour was a single 4x4 with us and our guide, plus two French tourists and a French-speaking guide. They didn't speak any English, so after a polite "je m'appelle Joel" and a smile we kept to ourselves.

    Thankfully the site was only 15 minutes drive away. It's in a fairly steep canyon on a tributary of the Douro river, and there are thousands of rock engravings spread along scores of boulders at various points along the river. These date from between 8000-25,000 years old, and were only discovered in the 1990s when the Portuguese government started construction of a dam across the river. During the environmental studies, the engravings were inadvertently brought up from underneath sediment where they'd been preserved, and their significance was quickly realised.

    Thankfully the dam was abandoned and the whole area was declared World Heritage, as it's the oldest known rock art in Europe. It pre-dates the cave paintings at Lascaux in France, but isn't as detailed.

    Interestingly, the engravings were entirely of animals. Bulls, goats, aurochs, deer, fish, sheep, horses with flowing manes. Some of the animals had had their heads carved twice, giving the illusion of movement which was nice. There were two difference techniques on display as well - the oldest style which was essentially hammer & chisel style, and then newer styles using very fine pointed blades. Ironically, the older style was preserved much better since the larger marks were far more visible.

    We spent about 90 minutes out at the site, learning about the history and so on. It's not known why the engravings are there, but archaeologists believe the full bellies drawn on the animals suggest fertility rituals, or perhaps hopes for bountiful hunting.

    Then back to the main building where we spent some time looking through the excellent museum, though we had to hurry as a large group of noisy teenage schoolkids was following up behind us and making a ridiculous racket. Had a quick bite to eat in the cafeteria where we were surprised to find it was 2pm!

    Back into the car for the long 2 hour drive back to the Douro valley, where we wanted to check out a few more things. Partway back we suddenly gained an hour - turns out my phone had picked up a signal from Vodafone Spain and set its clock to Spanish time, then on driving away from the border it'd set itself back to Portuguese time! Third time in 10 days we've been caught out by time, as we'd missed the daylight savings change as well!

    Stopped at some various lookout points on the way back to get some good footage, as today was a beautiful day. Spring had suddenly arrived in what felt like a single morning, as it was now warm and sunny, with flowers blooming everywhere. Lots of nice colours too - yellows, purples, whites and reds along with the usual oranges. Even the grapevines seemed to have grown a foot overnight!

    Back into Pinhao which is the other main town along the Douro, and we parked up to have a look around. Lots of old folk on their Antiki cruises taking photos on iPads and clutching walking sticks. Had a glass of local wine on a bar at the riverfront and watched the sun sink behind the hills before returning to the car and heading for home. Made the funniest quip of the journey so far, when I drove slowly through a crowd of pensioners blocking a narrow road and said that I felt like Moses parting the Grey Sea.

    Relaxed at home for a while before heading back into Regua for dinner. Decided to splash out a bit on a nice dinner, so we headed for an upstairs waterfront restaurant with Portuguese cuisine. I had a goat's cheese gratin for entree and veal medallions with roquefort sauce and mushroom risotto for main; while Shandos had an onion soup for entree and deer medallions for main. Shared a pumpkin fondant for dessert which was excellent. One of the best meals of the trip, though comfortably the most expensive too.

    Back to the apartment feeling very full and satisfied after a long day. Last night in Portugal!
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