Weekend Getaway to Serra da Estrela

After a solid couple of months digging in, and working hard to establish ourselves in the new school year, we finally found the time to get out into Portugal to explore a new place.  The Serra da Estrela is the roof of portugal; a not too expansive granite mountain range that humbly  scratches at the sky (as the Portuguese do) and tops out at around 2000 meters in elevation (AKA a bit above 6000 feet).

We intended to spend the weekend hiking and venturing around the area, but when our AirBNB housing reservation at "Salto do Lobo" turned out to be a lovely rustic property complete with fall colors, mountain streams, an alluring stone fireplace, and a super friendly mountain dog, we ended up spending most of our time staying put and enjoying what was right outside our window. 

Notice the giant granite boulders

We rolled into the property late on Friday, led there from the nearby city of Covilha up hairpin switchbacks by the property manager and vibrant visionary, Delfin Antonio.  We went to sleep at a shamefully early hour (at least for not-yet parents) to the roar of nearby water.  I woke before the sun could peak over the mountain just to get a look at what seemed a bit spooky by lamplight the night before.  The roar from the night before was a series of gorgeous waterfalls and pools literally right outside of our window.  Our "cabin" was unlike any I've stayed in or even seen before, with many of the walls build right into gigantic granite boulders, and made if feel old and integrated into the landscape. 

After a morning filled with warming tea, stone yoga, and a failed attempt to submerge in the frigid waters, we took a mid-day hike to the extent of the large property with Mondego, a super playful and affectionate Estrela Mountain Dog, as our escort.  EMDs are well known in the area and in Portugal, and are reported to be hardy, loyal, and bred to navigate the somewhat rugged mountains (they even have an extra set of dew claws, which apparently help in descending steep declines).  We saw this in action on our walk as 2 dogs managed an enormous herd of goats without any help from a shepherd. 

After our walk we enjoyed local bread, cheese, and wine (just a taste for Jyl), lit a fire, played games, listened to good old midwestern folk music (Greg Brown, Jeffrey Foucault, Peter Mulvey, Hayward Williams, etc) and even finally braved the shockingly cold mountain pool; all activities that warmed the soul.  Later Delfim invited us to join his family for some food and good conversation about politics, electric cars, driving in Portugal, the mountains, the land, and on and on.

We may not have experienced everything the Serra had to offer, but it's hard to imagine a better way to spend a few days... 

 

Festival of Light

There are those days where we are visually and viscerally reminded of how lucky we are to live in such a dynamic place.  The annual weekend of the "Festival of Light" in mid-September is one of those times.  We wandered the town on a Friday evening admiring the impressive array of different artistic exhibitions that all use different light elements to make their point.  From the thunderstorm of light bulbs... to the 100 meter citadel wall covered in rotating slides... to the large "light flower" made up of the work of many school children... to my favorite: the luminous 30-foot long koi fish gracefully floating above the buildings... it was all a feast for the eyes.