On the morning of 30 August 2015, we met my friend’s parents who were very hospitable and kind. They received us in their house, served us a fabulous breakfast on the terrace and they invited us to have lunch with them. As we were planning to visit more places nearby, we refused their invitation.

Unfortunatelly, her father passed away less than 1 year later. I’m glad for having known him, even for a short period of time. I believe he was a great man. And I think I will not forget his ability to capture wasps with his hands.

Almofala
We had planned to follow the trail PR-FCR-1 Almofala a Sto. André, but that was before we knew that the temperature on that day would be above 30°C!
Instead, we parked the car as soon as we arrived in Almofala and we walked to the church and then to the Cruzeiro do Roquilho (Cross of Roquilho). We looked for geocaches on both places, but we only found one of them.
However, the best discovery was the countless blackberries along the way. We ate a lot of blackberries and we picked some of them into a paper box that my brother made. We also picked a few barbary figs, but these ones are tricky to collect because of the small spines.

Santa Maria de Aguiar Convent

Convento de Santa Maria de Aguiar
Our next stop was at Convento de Santa Maria de Aguiar (Santa Maria de Aguiar Convent). Built in the 12^th century, the convent is a fine example of early Gothic architecture.
It was closed, so we only saw its facade.

Castelo Rodrigo
We had lunch at restaurant A Cerca, in Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo. Then, we visited the historical village of Castelo Rodrigo.
The village is charming, beautiful! We breathed history at every corner.
Besides, Castelo Rodrigo seems a great place for hiking lovers. There are two short trails (PR 2 FCR and PR 3 FCR) starting in there and there’s a large one (GR 22), of about 565 Km, connecting the 12 historical villages of Portugal. This last one is now on my bucket list.

Almofala

Castelo Rodrigo

Santa Maria de Aguiar Convent