For this part of the trip on the trails of the Caminho, I chose to travel light and go low-tech: Nikon FM2, one lens (35mm, f 2.0) and B&W film. Pretty basic and retro, ideal for the “road” through fields, stone villages, roman roads, bridges and medieval castles.

The Northeastern Caminho

This is a lesser known route to Compostela, a short cut of the main road from southern Spain, through the remote northeast corner of Portugal, rural and less populated. The region of olives, almonds and wine of the Douro river.

Most of our itinerary  was within the  Parque Natural do Douro Internacional, Portugal’s second largest nature park along the Douro river. The steep cliffs on the riverbanks (Arribas de Douro) offer prime shelter for nesting birds. We saw  Eurasian Griffons and Egyptian Vultures, Bonelli’s and Golden Eagles, Black Storks, Peregrine Falcons.

People living inside the park’s borders, created in 1998, are still exploiting farmlands, raising cattle and mostly sheeps.

Small villages are shrinking, many people have left to cities and other countries. Making a living off the land is not for the weak, but life has it’s own rhythm there, tuned on the cycle of seasons. This is sustainable agriculture as it always was. On the table, the olives, olive oil, sausages and wine come from the orchards and the fields nearby, the open pig pen, where hogs still get servings of acorns.

The Northeastern Caminho

Ascent from the Côa River Valley to Castelo Mendo

The Grande Rota links the medieval Historic Villages of Portugal. The region including Serra da Estrela, the territories of Beira Interior and the border with Spain is loaded with history’s remains: roman roads and bridges, medieval fortresses and prehistoric rock art in the Côa River Valley.