Hikes to do at least once: Mata da Albergaria

My last recent vacations were spent in one of the most magical natural places in Portugal, and the ony national park in the country: Parque Nacional da Penada - Gerês. The park encompasses a large area in the north of the country, and its filled with insanely beautiful forests, waterfalls, belvederes and even historical sites.

^{This is how the forest in this post looks like.}

The park has a pretty detailed website, and in the area I've stayed there are 14 "official" pedestrian trails, although in truth there are dozens of hiking trails you can explore; even long distance routes that cover all the park's length and would take you days to complete! If you want to have a detailed look , you can check this and this website, that are filled with pretty decent information.

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But off to the personal experience: I've took hundreds of photos during the days, and want to share with you a little bit of this corner of the world; so to start, here's a peak of one of the easiest routes I did, but also one of the most beautiful for me.

Mata da Albergaria

The Mata da Albergaria, that roughly translates to Albergaria´s forest, is an oak forest near the border with Spain. The road crosses it but its forbidden to stop at the roadside.

^{Where the road enters the woods}

Near the spanish border, there's a small parking lot, and although the woods can be entered from other locations, driving to Portela do Homem (the name of that little place), and park the car there, is one of the easiest ways to access it.

Now, a curiosity: in ancient times, a roman road crossed this territory, connecting what are now the cities of Braga, in Portugal, to Astorga, in Spain. The part crossing Gerês in popularly known as Geira; it's remarkably well preserved, and in various sites you can even find the original marks that were used to measure the distance! The Geira crosses Mata da Albergaria, and part of this trail follows the Geira.

I've used one of the several trails you can find online, and did a small circular trail, starting in Portela do Homem, following the ancient roman road, and then back; during the trail, we have a chance to admire the oak woods, see beautiful waterfalls (and even go for a swim!), and with some luck, see some of the local fauna as well!

This was the hike I've done; you can find it, and several others more, in a portuguese blog filled with travel advices, called Vagamundos; here's the link!

I went to the woods first, in order to finish near one of the waterfalls; the beginning is easy to find, near one of the park's signs:

From here, just go down the path... and enjoy the views!

If you're like me, you'll probably spend more time than usual, marvelling at all the little stuff: the different leaves of the oak species, the moss in the trees...

... or trying to see and photograph wildlife.

Give the lower light conditions due to how dense the forest is, it's hard to get decent bird photos, especially if they don't stand still; birds chirping is continuous, and there are tons of different species here. This was my attemp at trying to photograph a wren:

With some other critters though, you can amire them easily: a black slug greeted me right at the beginning of the trail.

And not that long after, saw my first of the several reptiles species I was able to admire here. I couldn't get one of my favourite reptiles on camera, the ocellated lizard, but was able to see another endemic iberian species:

^{Iberian rock lizard - Iberolacerta monticola}

During the course, we algo find some small streams, given that the Homem river flows nearby.

We actually pass across the river, through a wooden bridge:

Remember Geira, the old roman road I talked about in the beginning? In this part of the trail, we arrive at the location of some of the ancient distance marks. All of them are identified, along with a brief explanation; I love when I see all the good care taken in providing as much information possible to anyone that walks these trails!

Some more hiking in a forest that seems out of a fairy tale...

... and shortly after, we arrive at one of the waterfalls we can see in this trail:

You can go down and swim in the (very!) cold waters. I was actually planning on it, but in this particular day the weather was cloudier than in the previous days and there was a lot less heat, so the water wasn't that appealing at that time; i was hoping the hot weather would come back as the morning passed, in time for my visit to the last waterfall.

Near this waterfall is the turning back point; the ancient roman road and the hiking trail continue all the way down, but I've followed my original plan and turned to walk in the direction of the road. This is where the trail meets the road:

This is the least pretty part, since you walk near the road most of the time. There's hardly a lot of cars passing by, but nevertheless I like being completely surrounded in nature. You can still admire some clearer views of the nearby mountains, in some parts, as well as the local flora.

And finally, you reach this beauty, the waterfall of São Miguel, also known as waterfall da Portela do Homem. The bad part? This waterfull is less than 10 minutes away from the parking lot I've talked about, so some people drive there just to come to this waterfall. The result? More people than I wanted to see! :P

Still, the waterfall is beautifull, and no doubt inviting for a refreshfull bath when the weather is warm; unfortunately, it wasn't the case that day.

After the waterfall... you're near the finish point. You can walk besides the road or take a little detour and enter the woods briefly again (I prefer this second option, as you migt have guessed).

Again, it's a short distance, and in no time you're back to the starting point. This trail is around 4,5km, and easy to do, since there are very few ups and downs, and they're not steep. How long will it take you? Well... depends on how much time you take admiring the view! But quicker or slower, it's definitely a hike I recommend; this is one of my all time favourite woods, and trust me, I'm fortunate enough to have seen quite a few!

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A lot more is to be said about Gerês... but I'll leave it for the next post! 😉

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