Where: Beiras, Portugal
When: August 20, 2012
With: Dave
Day 3 in Portugal had us pick up the third member of our trip - our rental car! We headed to the Porto airport, grabbed our new buddy, and started our journey south on A1 to see the rest of Portugal.
Along the highway, about every 5 miles there was a big, brown sign for some famous castle, cathedral, or other tourist attraction. It was amazing how much you could stop and see in the couple hours we were in the car. However, we had an agenda and bypassed them all until we reached the big, brown sign that indicated our destination, Bussaco Forest.
After getting off the highway, we thought we had the wrong place. We drove through a bunch of deserted towns before approaching a hill that looked like it had some vegetation on it, and therefore, had some semblance of a forest. We climbed and climbed, turning through hairpin switchbacks up a huge mountain, and when we turned down a road that was closed in tight with huge, tall pine trees all around, we knew we must have the right place.
After getting off the highway, we thought we had the wrong place. We drove through a bunch of deserted towns before approaching a hill that looked like it had some vegetation on it, and therefore, had some semblance of a forest. We climbed and climbed, turning through hairpin switchbacks up a huge mountain, and when we turned down a road that was closed in tight with huge, tall pine trees all around, we knew we must have the right place.
Bussaco Forest is actually a giant, walled in arboretum. It was planted by monks in the 17th century. As its fame grew, trees were brought from all over the world to be planted together. Now it is a big, beautiful, shady sanctuary sitting on top of a hill.
The royal family liked this place so much that in the 19th century, they built a royal palace within the walls of the forest. Unfortunately, the King was assassinated a year after the palace's completion and the royal family fled the country soon after. So now the palace is a beautiful hotel. And with a beautiful hotel came a fabulous restaurant. We had an amazing lunch at this place.
With our bellies extremely full, we set out to work off our meal by exploring the grounds of the arboretum. First, we wandered the gardens around the palace.
The monastery that housed the monks originally living here still stands today. It's as simple as you'd expect, with timber ceilings and plain stone interior.
At this point, we decided it was time for some real hiking. We picked a trail, and started off.
As we started walking, we noticed small chapels that appeared every few hundred feet along the trails. The monks that used to tend to the trees set these up all around the grounds so that they could stop and pray while out in the forest. So even when you'd think you were in a super remote area, a tiny building, covered in mosaic tiles, would pop up out of nowhere.
At the end of the first trail we hiked were the Gates of Coimbra, named for the view to the city of Coimbra when you looked off the mountain edge. The views from up here were gorgeous.
As we reached the gates much quicker than we expected, we picked a new trail to start hiking. The trail we decided to take didn't seem that long. However, what the map didn't show was that it was basically straight up the mountain. But after an interesting climb in flip flops and a sundress, we found that the views at the top were totally worth it.
Courtney: "Which way should we go?"
Dave: "Left"
Courtney: "Is that the right way?"
Dave: "It goes down instead of up, so my body says yes, it's the right way"
After a coming to the end of our trail, we decided it was time to head out. A beautiful little stop to make in the middle of our day.
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