(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Northern Portugal’s Peneda-Gerés National Park is an area full of contrasts.
There are vineyards perched on rough hewn terraces in areas that support limited agriculture. Sometimes we see maize (cornfields) too.
Mostly we see sheep, cattle and a few times, goats.
More often we see majestic rocky mountainous outcrops in stone, dressed in scattered vegetation and scrub.
It’s always surprising to me that people have managed to eek out an existence here for centuries long.
Not just one or two random villages sparsely spaced either, I’m even more surprised to see just how many villages there are dotted regularly throughout these valleys.
We enjoy driving around these valley’s and looking at the little villages. Suddenly we happen upon a lay-by at the side of the road that includes an amazing lookout that overviews the area we have just been in.
Kiwi Daughter and I suffer from car sickness, a less welcome extra to the otherwise delightful winding Portuguese roads, so we welcome the break and tumble out of the car for a breath of fresh air.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
The view across the valley is amazing… Now…cast your eye on the valley on the right.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Then look at the uppermost village in that valley.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
I zoom into the max and suddenly a familiar building comes into view beneath a predominant rocky outcrop…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
…Our Lady of the Snows.
but we say adieu Our Lady, we still have places to go…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
