After leaving the west coast of Viana do Castelo behind, we took a detour to the airport of Porto in order to pick up our rental. After that we went directly to the town of Geres in the Geres National Park. The town of Geres mainly consists of Hotels and Restaurants. It is busy and really touristy. So not really for our taste but it fitted the purpose to see some part of the Geres National Park. The town of Geres is mainly known of it’s hot springs and thermal areas. So the mixture of people in town is interesting. On the one hand the hikers that want to see the park and on the other hand, mostly elders who want to enjoy the springs.
We used the day to start a hike directly in the town of Geres, that lead us partly on the GR 50. This long distance hiking trail is crossing Geres and lead us to amazing parts in the park. Our first viewpoint was the Cascata do Arado. Which is a nice small waterfall. Mainly visited by none hikers, as there is a huge parking nearby. The best was the face of one guy with flip-flops when we went deeper in the park behind the waterfall, into a trail that was not clear marked as one.
Follwing the Rio de Camalhao lead to an amazing valley in the heart of the Geres National Park. The silence of this place was amazing. Only breeze of wind, the flowing of the river and nothing else. If we were the only peole on earth. With that said I will but the GR 50 on my mental bucket list. The small part we saw blow us away and left us only with the question if the rest of the park is just as amazing.
Overall the trail was 15 kilometers long with 1000 meters of alleviation. No matter if you went up a paved road up and a graveled road down, the upward/downard slope was brutal. Nether the less the tour has so many great views and stunning nature to provide. We only saw one girl which was hiking in front of us, and we met on the peak before the valley two German backpackers which were hiking in the park for several days. Besides that a lot of untouched nature.
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