Landescape Walks

04/05/2022

ALENTEJO - Every season charms its way across the fields, but it is during springtime that it is nature that holds sway: jewel-like carpets of wild flowers clothe the meadows. This is the peak season to see the natural colourful wildflower displays which cover roadsides and fields, hills and coastlines.
BEAUTIFUL, Unique Alentejo

14/04/2022

Our 2021’s memories from the coast.
The Alentejo coast stretches from the mouth of the River Sado to Zambujeira do Mar, and it’s a surprise of small havens of sun and beach, hospitable people and good cuisine.
The country’s Alentejo region has the last unspoiled stretch of Atlantic coast in all of southern Europe. But the Alentejo coastline is not only beaches.

To the south of Sines, you enter the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina (Southwestern Alentejo and Vicentina Coast Natural Park), abounding in hiking trails to choose from.
The various marked trails along the 450km which make up the Vicentina Route, between Santiago do Cacém and São Vicente Cape, are a good way to get to know the region.

Walk some of the inland trails of this route and the traditional landscape dotted with cork oaks and olive trees that withstand time is just there, it seems another “world” and only a couple of kms away from the coast.

Come and Discover beautiful unique Alentejo

17/03/2022

Continuing to bring back 2021’s memories, the Paiva Walkways + 516 Arouca Bridge walking day.
The Paiva Walkways invite you to enjoy a wooden-board path zig-zagging down rocky hillsides along the left bank of Paiva river at Arouca Geopark and are the most internationally know walkways in Portugal.
Now it has a new attraction, the Arouca 516 suspension bridge. A Footbridge that spans 516m-long across the valley. The walking deck is 1,20m wide and hangs 175m above the Paiva River. So there we went to explore this new attraction.
Crossing the bridge is optional, you can still do only to the normal Paiva Walkways trail. And if you want to do the bridge and walkways and don’t want to do the crossing of the bridge booth ways a bit of planning is needed.
That’s what we did, one way only for the bridge and one way only for the walkways. This led us to choose to enter the bridge at Alvarenga. And what a great decision, Alvarenga is a very nice small town, the walk till the entry of the bridge is beautiful.
It was a great day, early start, easy walk because we had a cloudy summer day, easy transfer back to Alvarenga by 4X4. They were there at the end, for us it was Espiunca, and took us back to Alvarenga for 15€.

GREAT lunch at Alvarenga tasting the local specialty – the Alvarenga steak.

03/03/2022

2022 Walking Tours Season is officially open!
Hoping on many happy days around these amazing landscapes over the next months.

20/02/2022

Dinosaur track sites in Portugal.
Portugal has a very broad paleontological heritage. There are fossil remains of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. In the Mesozoic remains it can be highlight the fossils of dinosaurs. These have an international importance for its quantity and diversity and for bringing new data about the paleobiogeography of the Jurassic in north Atlantic.
It is also important to highlight the preservation of quarries with footprints of dinosaurs and the creation of legal instruments that protect them.

The Portuguese track record includes two outstanding Middle Jurassic track sites both in Central Portugal, two other major areas with important dinosaur track sites are SW Algarve Lower Cretaceous, and the Sesimbra region (near Lisbon), Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous.

From the Upper Jurassic dinosaur tracks we visited the Sesimbra’s Avelino track site, less known than its neighbor Cabo Espichel tracks.
Avelino was declared natural monuments on the basis of their scientific value, the exceptional natural scenery surrounding them and the potential to host educational programmes and walking tours to visit dinosaur tracks.

At the Avelino track site, on Kimmeridgian limestones, narrow-gauge sauropod trackways were described and assigned to Parabrontopodus isp. These trackways reveal the passage of five different sized sauropod track makers (prints length ranging from 30 to 100 cm) travelling separately in different directions.

Possible to reach it by car, there's a parking area. But indications on the road are not the best and the GPS can take you to the opposite side of the entrance...

16/02/2022

Portugal's plant of the year 2022 - The linaria-dos-olivais (Linaria ricardoi)
A plant with purple flowers that lives in the traditional olive groves of Alentejo, was chosen from more than 2,800 votes in this initiative of the Portuguese Botanical Society, was revealed.

The linaria-dos-olivais, an endangered species according to the Red List of the Vascular Flora of Mainland Portugal.
Throughout this year, 2022, the linária-dos-olivais will be the “ambassador of the Alentejo’s botanical treasures within and across borders”.
This species is an endemism that only lives in the region of Ferreira do Alentejo, Beja, Cuba and Serpa. “Although it may be locally abundant in some places, changes in land use (intensification) in this region constitute a serious threat to its persistence”.

The linaria-dos-olivais, a species that does not exist anywhere else in the world, is a plant with purple flowers that grows in fields, fallows and meadows in traditional or mounted olive groves, rarely on slopes and roadsides. It can grow up to 30 centimeters.

A linária-dos-olivais foi a escolhida de entre mais de 2.800 votos nesta iniciativa da Sociedade Portuguesa de Botânica, foi hoje revelado.

07/02/2022

2021 was not the easiest of the years... sometimes very challenging dealing with continues change in rules for tourists due to the pandemic.

BUT, it was still possible to show/discover/enjoy many of the different things that Portugal, and especially Alentejo, has to offer ☺️

So lets remember some of them.
The new Azulejos (Tiles) Museum in Estremoz - Museu Berardo Estremoz; this museum presents what is considered the largest and most important private collection of tiles in Portugal.
Have a look at the pictures

29/05/2021

Alter Stud Farm - Lusitano's mares with their foals.
An incredibly beautiful sight, daily at the Alter Stud farm, founded in 1748 within the scope of a new horse breeding policy enacted in 1708 by King João V. Alter Real Lusitano horses. Hometown 😍🤩

19/05/2021

The general situation continues positive! So this time a quick break at Porto. To discover the new WOW.
What's WOW? THE WORLD OF WINE.
"In centuries old Port wine cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto, WOW pays homage to the region. It is an entire district full of new and exciting things to do, explore, and learn.
Six museum experiences, nine restaurants, shops, a temporary exhibition space, an events space and a wine school."
We had time to explore The Wine Experience and also a visit to The World of Chocolate.
You DO need TIME to fully enjoy the experiences, so be come more than once to this amazing new space.

10/05/2021

Home town heritage 🤩🤩😍😍
Portuguese Riding is in the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Equestrian Art and the Lusitano Horse are closer to an application to UNESCO after the government recently announced the registration of Portuguese Equitation in Intangible Cultural Heritage. This is the first step towards an application to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.
Portuguese School of Equestrian Art provides a return to the past, in a real journey through time, to the rhythm of the elegant and precise “ballet” of Purebred Lusitano horses at the Alter Stud Farm - former stud farm of Casa Real Portuguesa, founded by D. João V, in 1748. Photo by Luis Duarte

07/05/2021

The good news continue! Go Portugal!
"Taking into account the evolution of the pandemic in all the municipalities of the continental territory, through the weekly reassessment of the relevant epidemiological indicators, the Council of Ministers decided that the majority of the country continues in the last phase of the Desconfinamento Plan"
Taking advantage of this a FANTASTIC day out at the Orvalho walkways (center of Portugal), Castelo Branco district.

12/04/2021

This was a crazy weather weekend here in northern Alentejo! Saturday with storms, hail, heavy rain that originated some flooded areas.
Sunday a fantastic, great, sunny, hot spring day! So good that a stroll outdoors was a must.

02/04/2021

Páscoa Feliz
Happy Easter
Storytellers

22/03/2021

The application of the Calçada Portuguesa to National Intangible Cultural Heritage was presented. The objective is to preserve this art that is an integral part of the city's identity and to value the meticulous work of the pavers, authentic seamstresses of Lisbon's sidewalks.
The Associação da Calçada Portuguesa, which presented the proposal with the support of the municipality, guarantees that the next step will be the application of the Calçada Portuguesa to Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Amazing images.

20/03/2021

Today Spring will arrive at 09:37 (mainland Portugal time), the March equinox happens.
The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night”—aequus (equal) and nox (night). On the equinox, the length of day and night is nearly equal in all parts of the world. After the spring equinox, the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the Sun. The amount of daylight each day will continue to increase until the summer solstice in June, in which the longest period of daylight occurs.
Spring and life happening in Alentejo.

14/03/2021

"The Paço da Ribeira in 1755, with its traditions of two and a half centuries, an archive of the royalty of the kingdom's administration and of overseas possessions, with its rooms, unique in the world in ostentation, the Sala dos Tudescos from Felipes' period, the Varanda das Damas, Casa da Índia, Casa da Opera, Tôrre do Relógio, Patriarchal, Library, Armory - it was the wonder of Lisbon and the of the civilised world.
But the Earthquake came! All of this - history, writing, art, beauty, riches and priceless values - disappeared in a few hours, reduced to ruins and fire debris. "
Norberto de Araújo (1889-1952), in his Pilgrimages in Lisbon (Peregrinações em Lisboa, vol. XII), helps us to imagine what Paço da Ribeira would be until 1755. And this 3D reconstruction work, from the Lisbon Museum, take us on a Stroll Through Lisbon that is, after all, a journey through time.

04/03/2021

Evora, candidate city to European Capital of Culture 2027.
A city and region with a so very rich history to share.
Here a great mini-documentary about Almendres, the cromlech (prehistoric circle of standing stones) that goes back to about 4000-5000BC making it about 2000 years older than Stonehenge.

01/03/2021

It's been the "hardest winter ever"... with the pandemic and the freezing cold temperatures (negative ºC at night for days) and rain (days and days of rain). BUT, finally, the SUN and mild temperatures! And green and water everywhere and the flowers are popping up. The 1st signs of Spring are here 🌞🌼🌻. Hope is here and better days will come for sure.
Alentejo, BEAUTIFUL Alentejo.

10/02/2021

Portugal's Bird of the Year 2021. This year, it's the painho-de-monteiro (Hydrobates monteiroi). “This little bird has an impressive resilience: it lives for more than 20 years, most of the time at sea,” said Azucena de la Cruz Martín, Coordinator of SPEA Açores, in a statement. "We are talking about a 50-gram bird that resists the storms that plague the Atlantic, year after year."

É pequena mas tem uma resiliência impressionante e só nidifica nos Açores. Saiba qual é a Ave do Ano 2021 escolhida pelos portugueses.