The Serial Sunsetter

Fisgas de Ermelo

This one i’m going to enjoy writing about, because if there’s one place that keeps pulling me back every year is this one. It’s going to be split up into 3 parts; this post; one entitled “Fisgas de Ermelo – Piocas de cima” and another one entitled “Fisgas de Ermelo – Piocas de baixo” to better focus on each of them.

“Fisgas” has no direct English translation as far as i’m aware, but it’s considered as an opening, or passage, for, in this case, water, that travels from it’s spring, all the way down the mountain creating beautiful streams of water with numerous pools along the way to be discovered.

That being said;

The whole Fisgas de Ermelo experience lives inside the Alvão Natural Park and is composed by 3 main things you should visit, of which 2 are big, beautiful pools of water, Piocas de cima and Piocas de baixo, that you can go, bring along some food and easily enjoy an afternoon there with the occasional sunbathing and … well… normal bathing , and the Fisgas de Ermelo viewpoint, which is really high up and isolated, and where, in the winter, you can see a beautiful stream of water going down the mountain, although, unfortunately, the same cannot be said during summer.

Other than these three things, feel free to explore the amazing views in Alvão Natural Park, there are plenty of landscapes worth admiring. Feel free to take a look the official Fisgas de Ermelo hike’s pamphlet, provided by the municipality of Mondim de basto, that gives you all the information you need to complete the full hike.

Fisgas do Ermelo – Piocas de Cima

Piocas de cima, this one is the trickiest to get to due to the uncertain terrain you’ll have to climb down on to reach it, but, truth be said, just don’t run your way down and you’ll be perfectly fine; many people do this trail everyday and it doesn’t generate not even a tenth of the accidents that Gerês’s 7 lagoas does. All you have to do is leave your car at the Piocas de cima access point and travel your way down like in the picture below:

Once you get there, take a moment to appreciate the place, it’s quite amazing, or, if you’re feeling the heat you can jump right into the crystal clear water.

And if you’d just like to chill alone or with that special someone, or … someones in this case, you can enjoy the little natural “Jacuzzi” that nature created which is situated a bit upstream in the rocks before the big pool above.

Soajo’s secrets

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.

Peneda-Gerês National Park

Gerês is a mountainous region that shares both Portuguese and Spanish land, though, the Spanish part is called Xurês by the Spanish locals.

Gerês is filled with amazing and mysterious places to visit, it’s home of the best sceneries in Portugal, like incredible viewpoints, landscapes and waterfalls with big natural pools of crystal clear water.

The Peneda-Gerês region has long been called a home by many agricultural communities, dating all the way back to 6000 B.C, thus, one can still find many megalithic, celtic, roman and medieval structures and artifacts up to this day, like, for example, large stone monuments, roman bridges, stone graves, amongst other examples.

One of the biggest reasons thousands of people visit the Gerês everyday is its amazing collection of waterfalls and pools of water ranging all the way from just off the road to as far as 2 hour walks amidst nature just to find them.
The most well known waterfalls and natural pools are :

– Tahiti waterfall (though it’s correct name is fecha das barjas);
– 7 lagoas (though not a waterfall per-say, still one of gerês’s top 3 places);
– Soajo’s waterfall trail ( a trail of 3 main waterfalls with huge pools of water);
– Portela do homem waterfall;
– Arado waterfall;
– Pincães waterfall;
– Cela cavalos waterfall;
– Pitões das júnias waterfall (only viewable from the viewpoint, hardly accessible);
– Ermida waterfall.

For the ones who prefer a calmer, more touristic approach to Gerês, there’s still many place to go, like, for example, many of Gerês’s small villages or viewpoints that are easily reachable and still provide plenty of Instagram-worthy moments.

Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best, if not the best viewpoint in Gerês, is named the “pedra bela” viewpoint; it’s a particularly high altitude viewpoint that gives you a magnificent view of Gerês’s village as well as all of the villages along the cávado river that runs along this particular valley, so all-in-all, a legitimate sunset viewing spot champion.