Editor’s note: I spent a month in Portugal, but limited my time to its major cities, Lisbon and Porto. But even traveling between the two, it was apparent that the country had significant natural beauty. So I am grateful that Morgan explored a lot of that on her geological adventures, sharing it with us today. For more of Morgan’s writing, click here to visit her index page.
Since beginning a quest to visit all of the United States’ stunning national parks, I’ve expanded my vision to include visiting the national parks of other countries whenever I can. Portugal’s parks wowed me – both with their beauty and their rich geology.
Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês
Though other reserve areas and natural parks can be equally impressive, Portugal contains only one official national park. That national park, Peneda-Gerês, lies in the northwest part of the country in the mountain range that divides Spain and Portugal. Gerês itself is a lovely mountain spa town with natural thermal areas. Those thermal baths served as a destination during Roman times, and still do today. Those naturally-heated spas, along with massages and modern comforts, certainly make for a relaxing destination after days filled with hiking and exploration.
While some of the routes to hiking trails wander through towns so small that cows block the road and it feels like that can’t possibly be the route, those trails reward you with panoramic views of waterfalls, rivers, and even stone bridges and roads from Roman times. Many of these official trails, which are marked with clear stripes of red and yellow throughout the country, lead through towns and villages on the way to those breathtaking views. In one area of the park, you can even find a medieval castle. Though Portugal is full of castles built in many eras, having one within a national park is noteworthy.
This mountain range was created in the late Paleozoic period, when Pangaea was formed by the collision of the ancient land masses called Euramerica and Gondwana. This means that you’ll mostly find strong granitic rocks in the area, though you may stumble upon some sedimentary rocks here and there. A large portion of the beauty in the land was formed by glaciers, which polished some of the granite.
Drawing a line on a map of Portugal and Spain’s border, you’ll find that your finger touches many natural parks, and this is because that border is mostly composed of mountains. Thus, following the border brings us to the next verdant area in my path.
Parque Natural do Douro Internacional
The Douro, one of the largest rivers on the Iberian Peninsula, runs from Spain and into Portugal, and in some places serves as the border between the two. In fact, in one portion of this park, you can sit up on a cliffside and see an area called “Miradouro do Contrabando”, where even up until the 1980s people would sneak contraband across the border from one country to the other. The name of this park reflects its location in both Spain and Portugal.
Like in Peneda-Gerês, some of the hiking trails in this park travel through the roads of small towns on their way to delightful views and history. The one through Vilarinho dos Galegos, for example, contains the remnants of a Moorish castle with fortifications dating all the way back to the Iron Age. It’s awe-inspiring to look at the handiwork of people who lived thousands of years ago and the strategies they created to defend their land – often using strategically placed local stone as a defensive tactic.
That stone is quite varied in nature – everything from sparkly mica sheets to platelike schist. The mountains in this area were formed through several different tectonic movements, which determine the variety and complexity of geologic material here. The Douro River itself sits in a canyon-type area, with rich soil and cultural heritage that have earned the area its UNESCO world heritage site recognition.
Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela
Throughout Portugal, much of the bottled water available is from the mountain springs of Serra da Estrela. The Serra da Estrela mountain range, the largest in Portugal, serves as the source of several Portuguese rivers.
Interestingly, this park contains some man-made features along with its natural beauty: a skiing area and man-made reservoir. Due to the altitude, some roads may be impassable with snow during the colder months.
This park also hosts several schist villages – areas where the homes were made from the local stone stacked up. The way these schist homes blend into the surroundings, looking like they could be natural rock formations, reminded me of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s approach to creating homes of local material.
Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros
While this is a smaller natural park, it packs a punch since it contains one of Portugal’s official seven natural wonders: its striking cave formations. This location is the only area in mainland Portugal with caves accessible to the public.
The most popular, and therefore most busy, cave in the area is Grutas de Miras de Aire – but by choosing the other two cave systems instead, you can purchase a ticket that allows entry into both Grutas de Santo Antonio and Grutas de Alvados. All three cave systems contain spectacular formations of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, caverns, underground lakes, and calcite structures, and all three are only accessible with an official guided tour. The Grutas de Miras de Aire area also
contains a fossil museum with findings from a nearby quarry, which was a seafloor during the Jurassic Period.
Things to Keep in Mind
If you’re used to the infrastructure of the United States’ national parks, you might be surprised to notice how few facilities you’ll encounter in Portugal’s national parks. Be prepared for long days without opportunities to get food and water within the park. You’ll also find fewer restrooms, official park lodging, ranger stations, and other amenities. Therefore, prepare yourself ahead of time with plenty of food and water, any necessary supplies for relieving yourself outdoors, maps and apps for trails, etc… Cell service is surprisingly strong considering the mountain locations, so using AllTrails or your normal mapping software to plan your day and navigate will generally suffice. And, as in any natural area, plan to pack out everything you bring in.
This smaller amount of infrastructure means that each park has less impact on the natural surroundings. Additionally, the parks are less populated, which means you may hike for hours on a trail without seeing any other humans, so you can enjoy the natural beauty of these wonderful landscapes.
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