Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal

Now it was time to visit "sunny" Portugal. But the weather was still alternating between rain and gray, with a few pops of blue sky. After we crossed the "border," which you hardly notice, into Portugal, we saw a sign for Peneda-Gerês National Park, so we decided to check it out. 

An unplanned stop

Although the highway had signs, we couldn’t find any after the exit, so we almost gave up before we found the park. We climbed up and up a narrow road past homes and farms until we finally saw a sign. Then we went to the lovely visitors center (which, once again had no passport stamp).

A very modern look

Peneda-Gerês is sprawling and we saw just a small amount.

The only national park in Portugal (although it has many natural parks, protected landscapes and reserves), Peneda-Gerês was created in 1971 to protect the soil, water, flora, fauna and landscape, as well as a number of ancient ruins, including dolmens, espigueiros (like the granaries in Galicia), megalithic tombs and roads.

An old wall

The oldest signs of human presence here date only from 6000 B.C. to 3000 B.C. The Roman Geira, a Roman road, crosses the region, including several Roman bridges and numerous millenarium markers. The Suebi people lived in Peneda-Gerês and, then there was a reoccupation in the 12th century, intensifying the 16th century with the introduction of maize, bean and potatoes from the Americas. Reforestation of uncultivated lands, imposed by the government in 1935, reduced the available pastures, and contributed to a rural exodus that continued after the 1950s.

Cattle in the vineyard

Yet, it was still common practice for the residents of the mountain communities in Peneda-Gerês to spend part of the year in two locations. From Easter to Christmas, they would live in homes above 3,000 ft., known as branda (from the Portuguese brando, meaning mild or gentle). In the remaining part of the year, these inhabitants would occupy homes in the river valley, known as inverneira (from the Portuguese Inverno, meaning winter).

The farms include lots of terraced vineyards.

A lot of work went into building this

A closer look

Since we were just on the edge of the park, we saw mainly farmland.  

I suspect ownership of property was grandfathered in since the Park was formed so recently

Grey Wolves live in the park -- of course, we didn't see any. We did see Cows ...

What a face

... and Sheep ...

We had to wait for them to move out of the road

We were going to find a room in Soajo (pronounced "schwawz"), but decided to press on. So, it was just a short foray in and out (turns out that we could use a different route out because the lack of signage going in took us up a different road than I thought I was on).

Trip date: April 25-May 15, 2015