In this last weekend, a getaway brought me to the center of the country, where I stayed in an awesome place near a river beach. One of the reasons to visit this area is the amount of nature trails, given the rural setting; and before returning home, I revisit one of them, one that I had visited two years ago; but this time, unlike previously, I did it all the way:
Fragas de São Simão
This is a linear hiking trail, that connects one viewpoint to a schist village called Casal de São Simão. You can do this trail starting from either place. Last time I visited, I started at the village; this time, I started at the viewpoint overlooking the Fragas.
Fragas can be translated to cliffs, and the Fragas de São Simão are those two cliffs that dive down to the small river. From this viewpoint, a wooden walkway with A LOT of steps takes you down to the valley. Looking to the top of one of the cliffs, the other viewpoint can be seen at the tip of the mountain (it's located a little before the village).
And from here, time to start the leg training!
A little bit of art can be found on the way down, but I was far more interested in the landscape and the forest (as usual...); a small viewpoint can be found here as well.
The walkway stops at a small road, that is the continuation of the trail; that road goes to the river beach, and can be used by cars as well, so care must be taken. Fortunately, this was already off peak season and still relatively early, so we could walk freely and check the local flora.
We even found Arbutus berries, from which a strong spirit drink is made - Aguardente de medronho!
At the end of the short road, one of the trail's highlights appeared.
This is the river beach of the Fragas, an awesome place for a swim in the cold mountain waters! It stands more or less in the middle of the trail, and I'll show off a little more of it at the end of the post.
Passing by the beach, the trail continues to the forest; it's the most beautiful part of the trail, since it fallows the small river for a while before starting to ascend to the village.
How beautiful is this setting??
The river is just a few meters from the trail, and I would happily spend some time here just admiring the view, but it was time to continue; and since we had to come back, I would have another chance to admire it again! So, off we went.
The trail is very well signaled, so it's almost impossible to go off track; it passes between cork trees like the ones in the photo, pines, several oak species, and unfortunately, eucalyptus trees as well (yes, they are beautiful, but also an invasive species and a great contributor to the amount of fires in the region every year).
A few more steps, and we arrive at the beautiful schist village, Casal de São Simão!
It's definitely worth while to explore the little village. Schist villages were the typical villages in this region in the old days, and conservation efforts are being made to return these typical villages to the same look they once had; even the newly-build houses have to have the outer facade made of schist.
We can even find some humour! Found this sign in one of the houses, near some plants; it translates to... "Don't f___ with the flowers"! 😂😂
So if you visit, take your time, enjoy the view and the buildings. From here, you can see the wooden walkway and the viewpoint from where the trail starts.
And if you came from that entry, catch your breath and when you feel it's time... just follow the signs, and do the trail again on the opposite direction!
The river beach
If you do the trail when the weather is warm, bathing in the river beach is definitely worth it. I'm highligthing the beach so you can have a clear idea of what you'll find.
There's also a well maintained picnic area. You can go for a swim on the main area, or walk just a few meters and explore all the different crevices between the rocks.
You can bathe while enjoying the warm sun, overlooking the imponent cliffs!
It's the perfect place to rest and gather energies before going up that wooden staircase again. And yes, the water is ice cold, but you will probably be well warmed up from the hike, and you will feel reborn after a swim! So, it's a great hike for the morning or the late afternoon!
Although you need to go up and down a little bit, it's a relatively short trail. I'll leave the official link to the website here, that has information from the trail and other ideas on what to do nearby!
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