3 Tag in Peneda-Gerês National Park

Portugal's only national park, the "Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês", extends over about 700 square kilometers in the north of the country across the border into Spain.

Despite the really rainy weather, Leon and I spent three wonderful days there: We went on two short hikes and took a long drive through the park.

Day 1: 7 km on the "Geiras", an old Roman road that leads through the national park towards the Atlantic. A winding path along the river, with beautiful, mossy trees, large boulders and rushing waterfalls.

Day 2: 13 km circular hike near Ermida, a small mountain village on the edge of the park. First a forest path through spruce and pine forests, then a trail through rocky heathland, cork oak groves and lush mixed forest areas. In the water-rich areas of the park, the tree trunks, stones and ground are completely covered with various types of moss and ferns. In combination with the dense canopy of leaves, this means that the whole landscape glows green. I have never seen such a green forest before!

Day 3: Since it was raining very heavily, we decided against a hike. Instead, we drove around the national park in our rented VW Polo. At times it was too foggy to see any of the landscape. But in between you could see the plateaus and valleys that we drove past. The last photo I uploaded was taken from the car. I think it really shows how green the nature is here.

Despite all the rain, I'm very glad we came here!