Country Walking in Portugal in Esperança in the Parque Natural da Serra de São Mamede
A transition from the São Mamede massif to the plains of the Alentejo with small quartzite hills, cork plantations, olive groves, crofts and herds of swine. Prolific rock rose and other shrubs. Begin at the the seventeenth century Church of Our Lady of Hope and walk past traditional alentejan architecture of single-storey houses with chimneys playing an important part of the composition along with ochre clays, yellows and blues, Alentejo blue. Look out for charcoal burning kilns as you ramble towards Marco, the frontier hamlet on the Abrilogo, the stream which forms the border between Spain and Portugal. On the the south west slope of the Serra dos Louções in a quartzite cave look for the cave paintings of Lapa dos Gaivões. These date back to about 2500/3000 BC. Esperança, means Hope.
A 1/25000 scale walking map is provided showing the walking route.
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