Home -> Europe -> Portugal -> Travelogue 2001 -> Thursday 5 July

Exploring the neighbourhood of Sato

Thursday washing day. Again it is quite cloudy, but the forecast is good. Today we want to drive through the neighbourhood and look for some prehistoric monuments, stone circles and the biggest tree of Portugal.

It takes some time before we find the tree, but there it is, with a diameter of more than 12 metres. The tree is more than a 1000 years old. What kind of tree it is? We have no idea what it is until we get an email from Eugenia in November 2004, telling us it is an eucalyptus.

In Satão it is market day; many stands with fish and meat, but also many shoes and second-hand stuff. The prices range from ridiculously low to ridiculously high, but we don't need anything. To the right the medieval pillory in Ferreira the Aves.

And then we start looking for stone circles and dolmen. Teije loves them and there must be quite a lot in this area. We follow a lot of signs directing to stone circles, but then the signs stop and we don't find any. Once on a sandy path in the woods: there is a clear sign, Dolmen 1 km. But after walking at least 2 km. we come to a crossway and Teije walks the tracks into all directions. A nice landscape, but no dolmen, no stone circle, nothing.

Finally, near Mangualde, we run accidently into this dolmen, called Cunha-Baixa. We are just touring around and there is this sign; a small pathway leads us to this impressive prehistoric tomb.

We have made quite a big trip and go to Lamas the Ferreira (near Casfreires) for a meal. We first sit outside but after 10 minutes we flee inside, it still is a bit too cold. Through loudspeakers on the street we can follow live the mass in Fatima. Back at the campsite we are glad to spend the evening in the warm, cozy pub, reading a book and talking to some people.

Travel through Europe and Africa

with Elisabeth and Teije