Nature trails in center Portugal - Part I

In the last few years, more and more Passadiços (Walkways) started to appear, throughout the country. They normally consist of wooden walkways, in circular or linear trajects, that pass in natural areas of interest.

I have to be honest, I only like this trend because it actually calls people to the outdoors; convincing most people to do nature trails has a way higher failure rate than telling them "hey, let's check out the new walkway!".

In center Portugal, there was a region that I hadn't visited for ages, and took advantage of a long weekend to get on some nature trails. There were a few walkways built recently, but fortunately they connected with the nature trails perfectly. So, off to Lousã!

Lousã sits at the center of Portugal, near a mountain range with the same name. In this region, efforts were made to revitalise the typical villages, whose houses are made of schist, a kind of stone characteristic to this region. Some of the nature trails also pass in these villages, which is an added bonus.

This first photo was the view from the castle on the day we arrived, and you can already see the kind of vegetation in these mountain ranges. The walkway can be seen on the right, overlooking the valley.

And on the next morning, nature trail time!

Before rushing to the actual trail, we followed the walkway from the castle to check out the fluvial swimming pool, just a few meters down.

In the summer, this place welcomes tons of visitors, enjoying the cold water and the view.

Since the weather wasn't exactly appropriate to bathe, we got back to the castle, where the nature trail started; roughly 6,5 km, in a circular trail that would lead us to 2 schist villages and back to the castle.

The trail provided us with stunning landscapes, and a clearer view of the castle. But also a closer look to the local fauna and flora.

This kind of trails beats any walkway by far; it's the best way to be close to nature.

A few meters more, and we even found wild aromatic plants!

^{Lavanda (PT) / Lavender - Lavandula angustifolia}

Apart from very minor exceptions, the only thing we found man-made before the first village were the signs on the ground and a few vertical ones, signaling the correct way.

Talasnal was the first village we encountered.

Although new construction is allowed, all the facades must be made of schist, in order to not decaracterize the villages.

I didn't get photos from the second village, I was a lot more focused on the beautiful trail we found after a brief period of rest.

Even greener, and a small stream to go with it.

On the way back, we still had a good view of Talasnal.

And an even better view of the castle, and the small chapel.

We finished were we started: in the castle; and just in time to be able to go up and snap a last photo!

Overall, a great walking day! We had more walking in the following day, but that will be material for other post, this one goes long enough! 😁

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