My all time favourite activity (especially while traveling) is hiking. I love getting out on the trails, exploring new paths and getting to experience the beauty and wonder of the natural world. With Portugal's only national park situated just north of Porto, a sunny Saturday seemed like the perfect time to spend a day exploring the park.
Without my own wheels, I booked a guided tour through the park and was joined by seven others in a Land Rover to do a bit of off-roading, swim in some spring fresh waterfalls, enjoy a delicious local lunch and take in the beautiful views of the park.
Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês was formally established as a protected area in 1971 covering around 700 square km of land on the border with Spain. Plenty of trees, flora and species call this place home including, perhaps most famously, the Iberian wolf! About 9000 people also live within the park, as human settlements have been here for much longer than the park formally has.
"The aims of the park are to protect the soil, water, flora, fauna, and landscape, while preserving its value to the existent human and natural resources."
Here's what I saw during my day in the national park:
Cascatas de Fecha de Barjas
This oasis at the base of a multi-tiered waterfall twinkles in the sunlight and is the perfect spot for a dip. You can access the top of the waterfall from the main road; we accessed it on an off-road only accessible to 4x4 vehicles which was a wickedly fun adventure.
