Soajo is a small and simple village located on the left side of the Peneda-Gerês National park and is known for it’s granaries and proximity to at least 5 gorgeous pools of water, of which 1 of them is man-made and the remaining 4 and nature’s doing.
The thing about Soajo, is that not a lot of people know about Soajo’s best part, because remember the 4 nature-made pools of water ? Well, one of them is very well known, the “Lagoa do Poço Negro“ and many people visit it everyday, but the remaining four are hidden, per-say, and only accessible by hiking your way up the Adrão River, and it’s known as the Trilhos dos poços or roughly translating, the Trail of the wells.
The Trail of wells is composed by 3 main natural wells/pools of water, Poço Bento, Poço das Canejas (the biggest of them), and an unnamed third well that shows in the map as “Cascatas do Soajo”, but we can call the Chill well, although, truth be said, there appears to be some more wells up the river but we’ll focus on these 3 because they’re the best in the time-per-wow ratio department.
So let’s get to it:
I know usually we save best for last but… Hands down the biggest reason to visit Soajo is the 3 big pools that you find on the trail upstream the Adrão River, so we’ll start there.
This is the suggested trail you’ll follow to reach all three of these wonders:
So in order we have:
Poço Bento:
This is the first pool you’ll find, it doesn’t get a lot of sun because it’s really low down compared to the vegetation around it but if you can catch it just right, boy is it beautiful.
Next up, the BIG BOY,
Poço das Canejas:
This one is really something, it’s like you’re own huge private swimming pool with a water so clear it’ll give you the urge to drink it and never leave. I have to admit this might be one of my personal favorite places in Portugal.
Whats that? doesn’t really look all that big? OK, here’s a video for comparison
And finally,
Chill well:
This one is smaller and shallower than the others, but, still amazing to see and chill at, because it’s really calm and relaxing.
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The Serial Sunsetter 