It feels like every place is getting more crowded by the minute; even the places that used to be our safe havens, are now flooded with people, and one might choose to see it as what they lost, but i, for one, choose to find new places to enjoy, and that’s exactly what i’ve come here to share today!
This places goes into the category of sunset seeing worthy places, and i call it the “Carlos Viewpoint”, because, when i first discovered it, i found that there is a memorial there in the memory of a fisherman whose name is Carlos, that disappeared at that location back in 2006.
The access to the viewpoint isn’t the easiest thing ever but neither is it the hardest by any means, it just takes a bit, maybe roundabout 15-20 minutes max. Just make sure to take shoes for extra comfort (although not strictly mandatory) as there is a downwards dirt trail with some loose rocks.
In the picture below, you can take a look at the trail you’ll need to follow to get to the viewpoint itself. You should park your car here.
This viewpoint has an above the average wow factor with its altitude and surrounding views, and everything really shines specially during the “golden hour”, so make sure to go there before the sunset itself as you won’t regret it.
Are you feeling the heat already ? If not, you will be after you see this delicious looking beach that’s just asking you for a swim.
Welcome to yet another post in the quick bite category, which focuses on must-see places in Portugal, in a fast, get-going fashion, so you’re up and ready in the shortest amount of time possible.
In this post we’re going to talk about the “Ribeiro do Cavalo” hidden beach. This beach as long been used by travel agencies to promote their trips to Portugal, so this might give you the slightest idea of how good this beach is.
Panorama form above
Impressed already? yeah, i bet so; this beach is truly a hidden gem, and the water is unusually warm, which makes it that much better.
There are, arguably, two downsides to this wonderful place thought, and they both have to do with actually getting to the beach itself. In order to access the beach you’ll have to park your car on a dirt road, hike for short while amongst vegetation, and then make your way down a semi-steep hill which finally gets you there, and although this downward climb is nothing too crazy, it does require some caution, and takes a fair amount of time to accomplish, specially when going up, so don’t realistically expect to be going back and forth to your car. In short, wear good, comfortable shoes (no sandals or any close relatives), take a cooler with all your food and drinks (but beware of its weight, especially if you’re alone), and take everything you’ll need for you day at the beach right of the bat.
This locationwill take you to the dirt road where you’ll have to park your car, and here’s the trail you should expect on your quest for this amazing beach:
Ah Parks; where we run with our dogs, play some sport with friends and have delicious picnics in the vibrant green grass; the good stuff in life; but usually, good parks are only found relatively far from a city’s center due to obvious space and infrastructure limitations… right? Well, this one breaks the rules a little bit.
Welcome to the one of the biggest and most underrated parks in all of Lisbon, and it’s name is Bela Vista – Alto da Pina joint park.
Hidden in plain sight, this joint park has maintained itself as one of the least known parks in Lisbon, yet, the sights and leisure areas it provides, rival those of a compacted Monsanto. There’s actually one, or better yet, two reasons why this park continues to stay under the radar; the first, and most obvious one being, that it’s not a heavily publicised park, but secondly, and also very important, is the fact that usually, we might use our favorite go-to app, Google Maps, to discover what a city has to offer, and if you look at this park through its satellite images, it looks nothing more than an arid, greenless and lifeless field, which makes us not even look at it twice, but oh my, how that has changed in recent years. There has been some serious work put into this joint park, both by nature and man, resulting in this beautiful park deep within the city of Lisbon.
Joint Park seen from satellite images and its approximate size
Looks terrible seen from above right? I mean, other than a couple dozen trees, it looks like it’s just forgotten land; but it isn’t, the area is actually VERY green, and filled with trees (with even more planted as of recently), an amazing sight to behold.
You! Yes you!; You look like the kind of person who loves sunsets
What was that? not really and there’s nothing i can do to change that ? *Cracks knuckles in Portuguese* Challenge accepted!
By now you might have noticed Portugal is somewhat of a perfect place to see one of nature’s best gifts to mankind; no not water, and nope, not nutritious, life-sustaining food, i’m talking about sunsets!
At this point, i can already hear you screaming, “what are you even talking about?? that’s completely non-essential for life” and yes, you’re absolutely correct, human beings still cannot live off sunsets, unfortunately, but you’d be surprised how many problems can be fixed by simply witnessing a jaw-dropping sunset, and i, your friendly neighbourhood sunsetter, am here to show you one of the best places in Portugal to do so, and it’s name is Cabo Espichel.
But before we move on to my personal, amazing, mouth watering collection of photos (i’m setting myself pretty high here, let’s see how this goes) taken at Cabo Espichel, let me give you a short intro.
Cabo Espichel is situated on the western coast of the municipality of Sesimbra, in the Setúbal district, and hosts two main points of interest; the 15th century church and sanctuary of Nossa senhora do cabo and the Cabo de Espichel lighthouse. The location’s relatively high altitude of ~134m made it a good location for the sanctuary as it inherits a natural defense against naval attacks; add this to a limited roman presence at the time, and you’ve got a pretty good place to build upon.
Lighthouse tower
Memory Hermitage
Church and Sanctuary
Being this high up, doesn’t just make it a good building ground, but also, and arguably more importantly, makes for an amazing place to see the thing no human being can get enough of; sunsets!
Here are some amazing sunsets that i’ve had the privilege to witness:
Light projection
Just look at this beauty
Light projection
Ericeira-like sunset
Sintra mountain in a distance
Full sunset
Cotton candy clouds
The lava horizon
If you have a keen eye, you will have noticed that there’s a theme in the photos u until this point, and it’s sun projection; this place has a stunning reaction to direct sunlight, quite unlike any other place, Cabo da Roca included; and if you’re lucky enough to catch this phenomenon, you’ll gain a new appreciation for life, and have one of those scarce Kumbaya moments where you’ll obtain true inner peace; that’s the Serial Sunsetter guarantee.
There are also 2 beaches below the cape that are very much worth mentioning; Horse beach, and Lagosteiros Beach, both with an access best described as in between thrill seeking and just pure madness, but they do make for an amazing sight from above, specially when the sunlight hits the water just right turning it almost into a caribbean blue adding to the all-around wow factor of the cape.
If exploring around isn’t really your thing, you might want to consider doing a barbecue while you wait for the golden hour, as there are ready-made structures for either a view intensive BBQ or just a simple fireplace come nightfall.
The location of the BBQ/fireplace
The view
BBQ/fireplace area
So, a place that definitely deserves to be visited, and i hope now you might have the slightest idea of that yourself, and if you decide to go, make sure to stay until dusk, as it’s a common rookie mistake to leave just after the actual sunset is over, and they end up losing the amazing finally that follows.
What was that ? No castle could have a better view than Lisbon’s St George’s Castle or Sintra’s Moorish castle ? *smirks in Portuguese*, Oh my dear traveler, stick around, i think you’ll like this one.
I’ve done quite a lot of exploring in Portugal, and it’s not everyday that i find a place that leaves me speechless and literally contemplating how beautiful our existence can be.
That being said, Marvão is a very small town on the very top of the Sapoio mountain in the São Mamede natural park. A once strategic military location, due to its high altitude and long distance visibility nature, now , one of the most, if not the most relaxing and beautiful touristic destination in Portugal.
The town of Marvão has less than 500 people and is situated in a mostly flat area, earning it one of the top positions in the “sunset worthy destinations” list for Portugal. The houses, much like in the rest of Portugal’s past, are all made from the local granite stone, but modernized to some extent, using a filler like cement, and all painted white, leaving only some visible traces of the granite stone as a reminder of the ancient construction technique.
Houses of Marvão
The entrance to the town has almost a movie-like feel to it; you’re presented with these big, once gated arches giving you a sort of medieval movie deja-vu and an urge to charge through them while singing your best battle cry. It is, jokes aside, a very fun place to visit.
To get to the castle, just make your way up the town to the highest point; the castle won’t be hard to find at all, it’ll be your typical “all roads lead to rome” kind of thing.
Once you actually get to the castle itself, on a sunny day, you’ll notice that the castle’s granite stone does an amazing job at capturing that orange, evening sunlight, almost giving it a glow.
Evening glow
Now, let’s talk sunsets, and oh boy is this a good place for them. As above mentioned, Marvão might be, in my opinion, one of the best places to see a sunset in Portugal, and i’ll explain why; it’s all about simplicity and relaxation.
The area around the castle, isn’t too developed, having only small villages and a few, far-apart houses, so there’s not much activity, that means, there’s not much noise, which in turn, translates to a very peaceful, and calm sunset. Pair that with an amazing view, and gorgeous colors all around you, and it’s the perfect recipe for a sunset you’ll never forget.
So all-in-all, a true destination winner in my books. Here’s some photos taken during the sunset:
To finalize this post, a video, of by far, of one of the calmest experiences i’ve had all my life; the dusk that just didn’t want to end. No wind and the only sounds to be heard were some dogs and a distant chainsaw. Enjoy.
As opposed to Lisbon’s Monsanto, the town of Monsanto is much farther from Lisbon; being all the way up in Idanha-a-Nova, in the Castelo Branco district, which is round about a 3 hour car ride from Lisbon. It’s considered one of the most magical towns in Portugal, and it was nicknamed “the most Portuguese town in Portugal” in 1938, and oh boy is it worth the visit.
Drive to Monsanto for prespective
Having an abrupt maximum altitude of 758 meters, in an otherwise mostly flat area, the mountain of Monsanto, on which the town sits on, does an amazing job at sticking out from miles away, becoming one of the most common ways people discover this “hidden” gem.
Town of Monsanto seen from a distance
The houses in the town of Monsanto are based on the everlasting granite rock, a rough textured rock, prolific in many regions in the north of Portugal, due to it being commonly found in mountainous regions, and has been used in the construction of houses dating all the way back as early as 2000 B.C.
Although the population of the town has been declining over the years, due to emigration, and a lack of diversified work opportunities, reaching only 829 people in 2011, you’ll find, that the ones still remaining are really friendly and will happily talk to you and help you if need be, giving this town an all around good vibe.
Daytime video of the town
If you decide to visit this town, make sure to take some food with you because you won’t find any big shops around, and in low season, some of them might actually be closed. I would also advise you to save an entire afternoon to explore the town, in order for you to go on a good walk around, and explore its many sights and points of interest.
As the evening comes to an end, start thinking of a place you’d like to see the sunset at, because, being a high altitude area, amidst a generally flat region, sunsets are usually pretty damn amazing, and you’ll want to be comfortable by the time the sun starts saying its goodbye, and enjoy it the best you can (picnics are recommended for maximum enjoyability).
Amidst the town Peak sunset goodness
One final word of advise, if you go to Monsanto during high season (summer), you might not be able to take your car all the way up to the town, in this case you’ll have to park your car at the town’s entrance, at the bottom of the mountain, and there will be a bus that can take you up to the top.
And, now, to finalize this post Here’s some more pictures of the sunset, because I feel it’s deserving:
Do you want to see something unique? Okey, lets go!
Schist; a very peculiar rock; it’s a brittle, flake-like type of rock formed from mud derived sediments, abundant in some areas in Portugal, so much so, that people decided to build houses out of it, creating the most unique houses you’ll ever see.
There are many schist villages in Portugal, but in this post We’re going to focus on Talasnal, a village in the Lousã mountainous region.
Talasnal is not as big as some other schist villages in Portugal, like Piodão for example, but it’s definitely one of the best to visit due to the sights it offers from being nested in the deeply forested mountain of Lousã.
People in Talasnal, are friendly, as is usual in Portuguese provinces, and there are many places to choose from to stay for the night; i can assure you it’ll be a relaxing stay.
There’s also a café right at the village’s entrance if you feel like taking a calm and trouble-free breakfast, but, keep in mind that the food in Talasnal is slightly more expensive than in a city, for example, due to the extra costs involved into actually sourcing the food into this village’s remote location, so if you plan on staying the night and want to keep a low budget, don’t forget to pass by a supermarket in the city of Lousã on your way there.
If you decide to go to Talasnal during the summer and the heat is starting to take its toll, feel free to visit the newly built “artificial beach”, made out of, you guessed it, schist as well, at the bottom of the valley, that uses a small stream of water as its water source.
The trail to the pool is too not hard to find, you just go towards the back of the village and start walking your way down into the forest; you’ll find a path that gets you there.
General direction and location of the pool
Here are some photos and videos of the beautiful trail that leads to it:
By now, if you ask someone if they know Cabo da Roca, chances are, they’re going to tell you “YES! i know it pretty well” or some variation of it.
Well, let me tell you, meh… do you really?
First thing’s first, a little interesting fact; Cabo da Roca is the most western point of continental Europe and famously described by the Portuguese author Luís Vaz de Camões as “the place where land ends and sea begins”
So, let’s give you a good walk-around of all Cabo da Roca has to offer.
If there’s one thing every person that visits Cabo da Roca, does, is visit the monument’s viewpoint; this is the most western man made point of continental Europe, from there you can enjoy the view of the sea, admire the huge cliff and take some photos alongside the monument (arguably one of the most touristic thing you can do in Portugal, only surpassed maybe by a picture with an “eléctrico” or a picture eating a “pastel de nata”).
The thing is, if you’re anything like me, you really don’t like the touristic approach to these kinds of places, let alone, the gigantic amount of people around you (as shown in the picture above, which was actually a slow day for tourists if you’re able to believe it) making all sorts of loud noises. This made me think about what else Cabo da Roca had to offer, and in this post i’m going to share what i’ve found.
Starting off, you can’t really talk about Cabo da Roca without mentioning Praia da Ursa as well. Praia da Ursa, is a beach just around the Cabo da Roca’s coast facing north, and is increasingly one of the most known beaches in Portugal exactly due to this proximity.
Praia da Ursa seen from Above with its iconic rocks
There are many trails to follow to the beach and each of them is worth discovering, so take you’re time in exploring around, just park your car on the side of the road and knock yourselves out. Expect around 30 minutes (medium-fast pace) to get down at the beach.
Road geographically compared to the beach for context
So yeah, Praia da Ursa is beautiful , but too crowded nowadays, so what if i told you there’s another beach just around the coast on the south side as well? Oh yes, there is, and boy does it win in the coolness department. The beach is called Praia do Louriçal, and to access it, you need to hike your way down Cabo da Roca’s south trail which leads to it.
The trail itself is not extremely hard to do, i would just advise you to look really well where you’re putting your feet because the floor is a little irregular, and one might twist their ankle easily if not attentive. Another word of advise, right before you get to the beach, you’re going to have to climb down a 2.5 meter rock portion (not as bad as it seems) with the assistance of an existing rope someone was kind enough to install there.
Trail to the beach
Rock you’ll have to climb down
Once you get to the beach, enjoy the scenery around you; Usually the beach gets a lot of sun even during winter so you can take your time admiring nature’s doing.
Here’s a little video as a bonus:
Moving on, because of course i’m not done yet; if you’re at Cabo da Roca’s viewpoint, looking down at the coast and thinking, “i wish i could go all the way down there to the sea”, well, you’re in luck, it’s my newest addition to that area’s exploring.
The first half of the trail is the same as with Praia do louriçal, but eventually you turn right and start going down a steep trail, and as a disclaimer, this trail is not for the faint of heart; both me and my friend were really uncomfortable, being beat only by my dog which seemed to be doing perfectly fine, only with the occasional slip.
It is well necessary to have good hiking shoes, an excellent sense of balance and pants you don’t really mind tearing up, because, sometimes you might need to Sku (butt skiing) your wait down at the steepest parts, and there’s two portions of the trail that you’ll have a rope to use in order to get through them, butt don’t let this discourage you, it is well worth it to go all the way down and admire the huge rocks around you, i can guarantee you’ll feel really small.
Here’s some photos and a video of this trail to lift your spirit up a bit:
Piocas de baixo, this one is the easiest to get to out of the 3 main places in Fisgas de Ermelo mentioned; all you need to do is park your car at the side of the road and make your way down the path suggested in the picture below, that leads to this beauty hidden deep within woods.
Suggested trail
When you leave the road and start walking your way down the dirt road, make sure to turn left at about 200 meters down, and from then on the trail is pretty much obvious, but long.
Expect about 30-35 minutes walking, but it is well worth it when you arrive and see this big, beautiful pool of water.
The pool is very deep as well; it is widely rumoured to be more than 8 meters deep at its deepest part, so take special care for your belongings on the slippery rocks, because i’m pretty sure you could open a second hand phone shop just from all of the phones you’d find at the bottom.
If you’re more of a thrill junkie, feel free to join the many people that everyday jump from the high rocks onto the water, or, alternatively, you might want to slide down the “waterfall” as many people do, although, the later is not guaranteed to be a painless experience, as many people’s butts would attest to.
One final note, make sure you go there early in the day because the place starts loosing sun as soon as ~4PM.
The Serial Sunsetter 