Santa Maria Madalena

You won't believe it...but we'll tell you anyway:

After being guided all around town by a friendly Labrador yesterday we were quite sure things couldn't get weirder.

Today a chicken, a goose and half a dozen of their friends proved us wrong:
We were hiking along some historic limestone quarry when we got lost between different trails. While we were discussing whether to turn right or left this chicken showed up and started posing right in front of us. At first we didn't pay any attention so it started running into one direction and returned to us as we were not following. After the second or third time we got curious and started following that crazy bird. She got all excited, picked up speed and made sure we were following.

The path was rough going up and down and that bird seemed cock sure we were heading the right way.

A little way down the trail there was sitting a goose holding guard. The two birds held a short chat then the goose went on to lead way while the chicken made sure we were keeping up with them.

Our local guides took us down a rocky path for quite some distance until we met the rest of the family - a second goose and half a dozen other running birds. And there was the main trail we had been searching for.

Total nonsense? We knew you wouldn't believe us. So them hero birds end up in a children's fairy tale instead of becoming local guides...

And the rest of the day? A stunning cable car ride (the steepest in Europe) taking us from the highlands down to the beach area where the locals keep their traditional allotments. We did not walk back up that steep path since it seemed quite a slippery challenge.

Before we forget - all the spots we wanted to visit (local art museum, local honey museum, special restaurant) were closed due to off season, we think.

And the moral of the story is, sometimes animals are great local heroes.Læs mere