Portugal
Guarda

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    • Day 66

      Das Côa-Museum: Stein-Zeit im Quadrat

      April 7, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      Renata fährt auf der fast nostalgischen Bahnstrecke - mit echtem Schalterbeamten, Schaffner und Diesellok - dem Douro entlang bis zur Endstation Pocinho ... und geniesst die fantastische Linienführung sehr. Ich fahre derweil 60km Bergstrecke und hole sie am Bahnhof wieder ab.
      Danach geht's zum archäologischen Côa-Museum hinter Vila Nova de Foz Côa. Dieses liegt in absolut faszinierender Aussichtslage hoch über dem Zufluss der Côa in den Douro.
      Atemberaubend der Blick in die Landschaft, bestechend die Architektur und sehr interessant das Museum über die steinzeitlichen Ritzzeichnungen, die hier gefunden wurden.
      Wir sind so begeistert vom ganzen Ensemble und der wunderbaren Ruhe hier oben, dass wir gleich hängen- bzw. stehenbleiben über Nacht.
      Was weiter bemerkenswert ist:
      - das sehr feine und ausgesuchte Mittagessen im Museumsrestaurant
      - der einzigartig persönliche Service durch eine Mitarbeiterin mit Behinderung
      - der Museumsbau, der uns sofort an die Land-Art-Architektur "il Grande cretto" von Alberto Burri erinnert (in Ghibellina auf Sizilien)
      - die Architektur an exponierter Lage erinnert an den Chäserrugg im Toggenburg
      - und ganz speziell: die Ritzzeichnungen kamen beim Bau eines Staudamms zum Vorschein. Mit intensivem Einsatz und dem Slogan 'die Gravuren können nicht schwimmen' (As gravuras não sabem nadar) gelang es der Bewegung junger Naturschützer im Jahre 1996, den Abbruch dieses Staudammprojekts zu erzwingen. In Rekordzeit wurde diese archäologische Fundstätte dann 1998 ins Unesco-Inventar aufgenommen und 2010 das Museum eröffnet. Dieses Museum steht somit auch für den erfolgreichen Einsatz zum Schutz des Welterbes und gegen kurzfristiges Profitdenken.
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    • Day 67

      V N da Foz Cõa hat Format und Humor

      April 8, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

      Die abgelegene Stadt Villa Nova de Foz Côa hat mit Spürsinn und Initiative etwas gemacht aus dem überraschenden und einzigartigen Fund der steinzeitlichen Ritzzeichnungen. Und sie hat dabei auch Witz und Ironie bewiesen: an einer unscheinbaren Mauer im alten Dorfteil findet sich diese zeitgenössische Gravur. Künftige Forscher dürften darin dereinst den "homo tippensis konsumensis" aus dem 21.Jahrhundert erkennen.
      Der Ausblick vom Mirador in der Altstadt beweist, dass das Museum tatsächlich dezent in die Landschaft eingefügt ist (gelber Pfeil).

      PS: Unser Standplatz an der kunstvoll geschichteten Steinmauer des Museums-Parkplatzes war diese Nacht gut "bewacht" vom treuen und gutmütigen Museumshund.
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    • Day 59

      Charcos da lagoa comprida

      June 10, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      Après avoir quitté le Douro nous nous écartons de la frontière Hispanique pour découvrir le "Parc naturel de la Serra da Estrela"; toute la région est une station de ski ❄️ pendant l'hiver (la seule du Portugal même, il me semble).

      Nous nous sommes arrêté au lac "Lagoa do Vale do Rossim". L'endroit se prêtait très bien à une séance de paddle, mais nous avons préféré faire une petite rando 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️ pour voir le "Covão dos Conchos", qui ressemble à un anus de mer ! 
      Au final, la quête était plus amusante que l'arrivée. Surtout grâce au retour, où Flo s'est sentie aventurière et nous a fait faire un sacré hors piste 🧝‍♀️. Sur le principe, c'était un raccourci, dans les faits... Pas du tout 😅

      Le soir, mauvaise surprise 😪 (une de nos premières galère de spot d'ailleurs depuis notre depart) mais bonne opportunité à saisir : le spot pour le van était nul (ni toilettes ouvertes, ni douches, ni intimité) MAIS un resto très bien noté sur Google. Il ne nous en fallait pas plus pour y aller. Le plat était très bon, les serveurs super sympas (pas facile de parler et se faire comprendre, même anglais dans des zones aussi peu touristiques) le tout a un prix très honnête. 
      En sortant du restaurant, le parking s'était rempli, et on faisait tache avec notre van ^^, c'était effectivement un bon resto au vu des Lexus, Mercedes et Lamborghini garée devant ! 
      C'était d'autant plus drôle, quand on est passé devant avec notre bouteille de mousseux, nos jeux de sociétés et notre lampe anti moustiques pour continuer la soirée en contre bas le long de la rivière. 🤣

      Enfin, le lendemain, pour poursuivre le voyage, le GPS nous fait passer près du barrage de la veille, puis par une petite route de montagne, pas rassurante, à double sens, sans barrière de sécurité ni bitume sur plusieurs kilomètres... Heureusement, nous n'avons croisé personne.
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    • Day 7

      Von "Allem"

      February 20, 2020 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

      Nach dem erholsamen Tag von gester ging es heute wieder ans Eingemachte. Wir hatten alles:
      Kurvige Teerstrassen mit "Grip", offroad Passagen mit Wasserdurchfahrten (hier wurde ich etwas laut,da ich Kerstin schon im Wasser liegen sah🙈 und Erinnerungen von der BAM hochkamen🤪) , und einen gigantischen Bergpass mit ca 1600m Höhe. Bikerherz was willst du mehr👍Read more

    • Day 23

      Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela

      April 16, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

      It’s funny that most campgrounds we stay at are run by people who migrated to Portugal rather than by locals. And many of them are Dutch, as is the case with the owners of the cute “campismo” in the nature park Serra da Estrela where we end up for three nights. It’s a small and green campground with beautiful views of the valley. As the weather is warm and sunny for days in a row now, we use the opportunity to do our laundry and relax a little more. Reading a book (I’m in the midst of Dracula, the classic I bought at the Harry Potter bookstore in Porto and that I can’t put down), playing some games (Clever, Mölkky), eating freshly made traditional Portuguese Easter bread, joining the campground yoga class, and - because we can’t help ourselves - taking a long stroll through the town of Melo. As we have been quite busy going from one highlight to the other, it is nice to take it extra slow these few days.

      We do take a full day to explore the nature park around us: driving a loop with our van we admire the scenery. The valley of the park by glacial movement during the ice age, which is why aside from lakes and meadows we can also see huge rocks lay about. It is also the only place in Portugal where one can ski in winter - we can even see some leftover snow when visiting the highest point of the country (1993 meter).

      We pause our drive for a 12 km hike. Once more we train our legs while we climb up the rocky paths that sometimes look more like a waterfall than a walkway (only one of us makes it back to the van with dry feet, I’ll leave it for you to guess who :-)). The hike goes up to a artificial lake with a sci-fi kind of hole in it to collect extra water for a lower located lagoon and water dam. The water travels down more than 1500 meter; it must have been quite the task to make!

      With tired legs, rested minds and laundry done we are good to travel on.
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    • Day 68

      Portugal - Guarda

      June 19, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      Yeahhhh ein neues Land ... eine neue Flagge 🇵🇹 Portugal. Unsere Entscheidung direkt in den Norden zu fahren hat sich zwischenzeitlich doch noch einmal geändert und wir machen nun doch noch einen kleinen Abstecher nach Portugal. In Guarda einer kleinen Stadt, nahe der Grenze, haben wir nur eine Nacht verbracht.

      Am Nachmittag spazierten wir noch zu einem Staudaumm und eine schöne Schlucht, welche durch knapp 500 Holzstufen zu erklimmen war. Am Ende gab es einen kleinen Wasserfall und einen tollen Blick auf die Schlucht.
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    • Day 8

      Pinhel to Trancoso (32 km)

      September 15, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      I walked for about the first four hours towards a black sky. Miraculously though, no rain ever fell. Every now and then there’d be some parting of the clouds and I could see a little stretch of a rainbow peeping through, it was very pretty. A friend in the United States tells me that this rain is the product of Hurricane Dennis, and that next week I will probably suffer the result of hurricane Earl. But it’s hard to complain about the rain when it is so badly needed here.

      Wikiloc tells me there were more than 700 m elevation gain. That’s not trivial. I was ready to stop walking at the end, but I didn’t feel like I was running out of gas. So I’m pretty optimistic about making it all the way!

      Today was another completely off road walk through rural areas with lots of vineyards, apple orchards, pear orchards, some cattle grazing, and some big fields of grain. It was just a perfect camino day, through a few small villages, but mostly out in the countryside.

      There was a lot of ascent for the last 10 kms. You could see the walls of the city from far away and it looked so high up there! Right before I arrived at the gates, there was a little sign pointing to a medieval anthropomorphic tomb, just hidden away. By 2:30, I was checked in to my accommodation. That gave me plenty of time to wash my clothes, shower, and then get out to see the sights. There’s a castle, good for climbing around, a nice praça with an old pillory, and a very interesting Jewish quarter. There’s a very nicely done interpretive center explaining the history of Trancoso‘s large Jewish population, at least until the Inquisition put an end to it. Pre-Inquisition, there were 500 Jews and 700 Christians in this town. Lots of houses in the Jewish quarter have some symbol etched in stone to show that they have converted to Christianity.

      Most of the restaurants here are closed for vacation, opening tomorrow of course. But there are a couple outside the walls that seem to be serving food, so that’s where I’ll go and then head to bed!
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    • Day 9

      Trancoso to Sernacelhe (28 km)

      September 16, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      I thought I would have been less tired today than yesterday. Four fewer kilometers and a couple hundred meters less of elevation gain. But I was tired when I got here. Nice room in the Casa do Castelo guesthouse recommended by my amigos Nick and Wendy.

      What a glorious walk. There were many spots going through the hills where you could make a 360° and not see a town, a house, anything. Add to that hours through pine forests (I dare you to think of a better walking surface than sandy soil covered with pine needles) and even a chestnut grove at the end. Hours of quiet and time to ponder life’s questions, big and small.

      I passed a little shrine with various wooden feet placed around the Virgen Mary. I am assuming that this is a spot with miraculous healing, but I couldn’t find any information. I am hoping that my feet got some sort of boost, even though I had no offering.

      In one small village I met a woman out for a morning walk. At least 20 years younger than me, but walking in a lot of pain. She told me it was her knees. Too many years working in the fields, and now with her husband confined to bed it’s even harder. My Portuguese was inadequate to say much, so I wished her well and then spent a while thinking about how lucky I am in so many ways.

      The last 4 or 5 kms into Sernacelhe are through a chestnut grove. My favorite tree! Most of these were on the young side but there were a few of those huge gnarled seemingly dead trunks with new branches sprouting. I usually walk through chestnuts when they are in fragrant flower but this was a nice change to see them with all the fruits. The chestnuts of this region are outstanding and highly prized I was told. And if you’ve ever been to Portugal you know that chestnuts are a hot commodity!

      Sernacelhe has a 12C Romanesque church. A librarian took me through and also opened up the church’s museum with some old graves dating between 4C BC and medieval. And some incredibly beautiful jeweled vestments from the 17th century.

      Hoping to find a restaurant open for dinner!
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    • Day 4

      Repeat of yesterday, minus the rain!

      October 30, 2022 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      Well not an exact repeat, because even though we visited Roman ruins and some stone villages with castles, just like yesterday, we added a squat gothic cathedral and a 5,000 year old necropolis to the itinerary.

      First stop, Centum Cellas, a 1st C Roman tower with ruins surrounding it. The plaque describes it as a mystery structure—prison, fortress, religious site, villa? My camino friend Alan, whose footsteps we are following (though he is walking and we are driving) rightly pointed out that the Romans were too smart to build a prison or a fortress with so many windows.

      Sortelha is less touristy than the “aldeia histórica” we visited yesterday (Monsanto), but it was much more accessible for Joe. More compact, beautifully preserved. Sortelha dates back to the 12C and used to be part of the kingdom of León, so it must have changed hands several times in the back and forth wars that ultimately resulted in two separate countries. Just beautiful.

      From there, on to Sabugal, another castle town. I hadn’t originally thought we’d visit so many, but given the rain of yesterday, and the fact that I remembered this castle as having its entrance directly to a street in town, I thought it’d be a good one to end the castle circuit with. Joe didn’t climb up to the walls, but sat in the Plaza de Armas and waved when I hollered from above.

      At this point, I though Joe should choose between another medieval town or a gothic cathedral, and he chose the latter. So we drove to Guarda, and surprisingly drove straight up to the cathedral entrance and slipped in an open parking place. After lunch in a decent place near the cathedral, we visited the cathedral (Joe said his prayers while I climbed to the roof) and then hit the road for our Casa Rural in the Douro.

      On the way, we saw a sign pointing off road to a megalithic necropolis. Usually these signs give no indication of how far off road they are, but this one said 5 km. As we went through town, I stopped to ask a resident if the route was well marked, if it was really 5 km away, and if the road was paved (all of these questions were learned the hard way). She assured me it was, and off we went. There is something pretty awesome about standing out in the middle of nowhere and walking through a stone structure built 5,000 years ago to bury the dead of the people who built it.

      Then back on the road. Coming from the south, we had to descend to the Douro, cross it, and ascend to our place on the other side. It is lovely, the Casa do Visconde de Chanceleiros. Dinner at 7:30 - no night driving on these roads for me!
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    • Day 175

      Covão dos Conchos

      March 15, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Der Abfluss des kleinen Ministausees sieht aus wie ein Gulli, bei dem man den Stöpsel gezogen hat. Dank des vergangenen Regens plätscherte auch ein bisschen Wasser. Wir genossen es, fast ganz alleine bis nach eiber halben Stunde wieder ein paar Leute auftauchten.😊Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Distrito da Guarda, Guarda, Гуарда

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