Monsanto: our LAST Portuguese road trip!

For our last trip across the lovely Portuguese landscape, we chose to go to Monsanto, voted "the most Portuguese" village in the country in the 1930s.  Located about 3 hours Northeast of Cascais, we rolled across a quiet landscape filled with oaks and olive trees as the light started to fade.  The town sits among large granite boulders (with some houses build directly into them) on the side and top of a large hill (or wee mountain), and so as we zigged and zagged up to it, we were able to take in the beautiful countryside as it was bathed in the warm last light of day.  The view from our very welcoming Pousada would have been worth the trip alone.  We stayed at Casa Pires Mateus; I would definitely recommend it, if for nothing more than the lovely owners who showered Finn with kisses, and basically would whisk him away while we ate breakfast each morning. 

The only low point of the trip came the first night.  In a rush to get there, we skipped eating dinner, figuring we would have no problem dining late... after all, the Portuguese generally seem to start dinner around 9pm, and this IS the most Portuguese of villages.  Wrong-o.  Sure, the people might eat late, but the restaurants didn't serve past 9.  We had to stuff our bellies with fruit and cold savory pastries.  So... let that be a lesson to those looking to come here on the late side! 

Saturday was a lovely day.  We hiked to the castle at the top of the village, enjoyed a long leisurely lunch, took a late afternoon hike along an old roman road, and then had a delicious dinner at Granitos & Petiscos.  After dinner we made our way to a very cute little tavern/cafe that we noticed earlier had a local craft beer, as well as live music.  The owners were young, hip organic farmers & horse trainers that were clearly trying to do good new things in a sleepy part of the country.  At some point in talking to them Jyl offered me up as a sacrificial member of the live music duo.  And so it happened that I spent 3 hours entertaining Spanish tourists playing good old music with a Scotsman who was rocking the dobro and a Portuguese guitar player with a big smile while drinking great wine and barely noticing the crowd.  It was without a doubt one of the better moments of my time in Portugal, and in travelling in general.  What a great way to cap our last excursion!

View from one side of Casa Pires Mateus

Up to the castle

Relaxing in the castle... it was really hot!

I could've been stationed in this castle.  A lovely view. 

Wasted.  (just kidding... it's non-alcoholic).

Inside the church.

Walking the roman road

Monsanto from below

Note the house built around the huge boulder

View from Petiscos & Granitos

Monsanto skyline at dusk

Moon rises over Monsanto = magical

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...