Chalet with Pool and Spring Water

Mountain Chalet @ Serra do Gerês, Swimming Pool and Garage. Refúgio do Carvalhal Visiting the Peneda-Gerês National Park is an arduous task for those who want to get to know everything. There are 72 thousand hectares, spread over five municipalities, four of Minho and one of Trás-os-Montes, with a remarkable diversity of natural habitats. The natural beauty of the complex deserves a quiet visit, with time for contemplation, or we would not be facing the most important protected area of the Country, the only one classified as National Park. And the truth is that contemplation takes time, so the Great Route demands availability. Take Castro Laboreiro as starting point, in the municipality of Melgaço, where hundreds of rock engravings witness the human presence since the Megalithic. It is also the rare areas where transhumance is still alive, as farmers and their herds rise to the mild, high mountain ranges in the spring. We are then invited to cross Lamas de Mouro and climb to Senhora da Peneda, in Arcos de Valdevez, one of the religious references of this protected area. The other is the Monastery of Pitões das Júnias, of which only the ruins remain, but we will arrive there. The Peneda is the scene of the popular religiosity and the Marian cult, already Pitons confirms the appetite that the monks of Cister revealed by the communion with the nature. On arrival at Mezio we can confirm the prehistoric importance of these lands, through tapirs and other megalithic buildings. On the descent to the Lima river we visit the old communal village of Soajo and, on the other bank, the Lindoso. Here, in addition to the granaries, it is advisable to visit the medieval castle. We are within walking distance of Galicia. The route continues to Gerês, municipality of Terras de Bouro. Between peaks and valleys, native forests extend and slide water courses that, after falling vertiginous, form paradisiac lagoons. If you have the courage you can climb the Carris, the highest point of the mountain range, above 1500 meters, and where traces of an old tungsten mine remain. From here it follows to the county of Montalegre, by inaccessible escarpments, habitat of the goat brava. If we follow the forest roads we can admire mountain villages, such as the Ermida, Fafião or Pitões. Visiting Gerês is always an adventure. One of the most interesting aspects of these mountain areas is the one that shows us how community life was. In addition to the eiras, with their baskets, or the fojos of the wolf, we find several furnaces of the people. This is the case in the village of Tourém, in Montalegre, which is still used today to bake bread.