Day 9 Oct 5 - Idanha-a-Velha / Monsanto

We left Viseu this morning to travel to the Idanha-a-Velha area. This region of Portugal is a historical area which is off the beaten path of most tourists. The region is also know for its olive oil and cheese.

Our first stop was at a local cheese factory to try some chocolate covered cheese...but alas they had run out of chocolate and they were not expecting any new shipments for a few days!

A few kilometres outside of Idanha-a-Nova (and our second stop) lies a dam which has changed the landscape of the valley. The newly created reservoir contains a large artificial lake which the locals use for canoeing, fishing and other water sports. Since it is the end of the dry season, as you can tell from the photos, the water level was quite low. The concrete trough in the front of the picture would be covered by water at the end of the wet season.

Monsanto in the background

Really, really bad fisherman depicted in the photo below...based on the speed of his casting and reeling in, he apparently believes that fish swim 30km/hr! Needless to say - he didn't catch any of the large fish which we could clearly see from the dam.

The historic village of Idanha-a-Nova is a roman village with traces from Visigoths, Arabs and Knights Templar. It is considered one of the oldest towns in Portugal. This was our stop for a great lunch.

View from the village of Idanha-a-Nova to the valley below

View of the village of Idanha-a-Nova

The village of Proença-a-Velha is the center of an historical olive oil producing region. Local olive farmers have created a cooperative to assist in the production and sales of their products. We visited the cooperative's main facilty in Proença-a-Velha which included a museum as well as their current and active olive presses.

Images from the Olive oil cooperative

Stone oil press

Blacksmith equipment

Monsanto, another historical village, was considered in 1938 to be the "Most Portuguese village of Portugal". The reason this small village garnered the title was for one simple reason...the emblem of Portugal, the Silver Rooster (Galo de Prata) was located on the top of the clock tower.

The village is located near to the top of a mountain (or what the Portuguese call a mountain - 758m above sea level - in Alberta we call this a hill) and at the top you find the remains of a medieval castle. The most notable characteristic of Monsanto is the fact that the village was literally developed around large granite boulders. All the structures are built from granite which also makes them fire-resistant which is good as there is evidence of several recent forest fires in the region.

Entrance into Monsanto village

Views from atop the mountain

Local village life...quiet

Local cuisine & handicrafts

Our last stop before reaching our hotel for the night was Penha Garcia. It is a small village very close to the Spanish border and was a strategic location for the Templars. Today the village is best known for it's Geopark containing a fossil wall which contains the 490 million year old fossilized remains of trilobites.

The Geopark also had a nice little 'village' to show how the original olive oil was milled using the river to power the mills.

As we headed for our hotel, we took a very quick trip across the border into Spain! We didn't stay long as Filipe was getting a rash from being in Spanish territory!

At last our hotel...it's been a long day!