(Hitch) Hiking in Portugal
So one of my favorite things about travel is that you’re on your own in an unfamiliar place and you have to plan ahead…but live by your wits (and occasionally the kindness of strangers) when those plans fall through despite your best efforts.
For instance: for my first post-COVID birthday, I decided to travel to Portugal. Omicron threw the first wrench in my plan, when Portugal restarted manual testing checks on the day I flew out (of course). I spent a lovely few days on the island of Madeira, hiking and swimming and generally being A Tourist. Then I headed back to the mainland and began my tour of the Algarve, starting in Carvoeiro for more hiking along the coast and then a quick ride to Monchique for some more hiking and more importantly, a hot spring!
The favored dishes of Madeira are hunks of meat and fresh bread, so it’s basically paradise.
The hot spring was absolutely the big draw of Monchique, but it also looked like a great place to base a bunch of hiking trips.
And it was!
…if you could find the trails.
To be fair, the trails were well marked but my American Private Property brain was not expecting to walk up a dude’s driveway or the stairs in front of someone’s house while on a major hiking trail.
That’s exactly what I was supposed to do, though, and hence why I was frustrated and confused for a day and a half after turning back at the imagined property line.
So instead of taking the trail from the Monchique hot spring to the town of Monchique, I hiked up the highway. Less scenic, I’ll grant you, but it got me to where I needed to be! In Monchique proper I grabbed lunch and then found the Via Algarviania, the trail that would take me to Mt. Foia (the highest point in the Algarve).
Spoiler Alert: I was getting started on this hike a lot later than I’d planned. This will be important later.
In the summer, the Via Algarviana is full of tourists; not so in December!
My first clue that this wasn’t your average hike was the convent. I’d taken a picture from the city, but up close it became apparent that this seemingly abandoned ruin was something very different: a working farm! Chickens and goats roamed, plants grew, and the folks who lived there were more than happy to lead a tour to the most picturesque spots. This unexpected treasure was a highlight of the trip, quite honestly!
From the convent it was mostly fairly wide paths and ruins, eventually leading to the turn off towards Mt. Foia, where things started getting more steep, colder, and very windy. I climbed to the top, which was less picturesque than one might hope due to the presence of giant radio towers, then ducked in to the visitor’s center to call a taxi.
In case you’re wondering, Foia is in the middle of nowhere and taxi drivers won’t go there even with a guaranteed fare waiting!
So I hopped on the AllTrails app, found a trail that would take me back down to the highway at least, and from there (eventually) back to Monchique. I also started sticking my thumb out whenever I heard a car, just in case, because despite having a headlamp in my daypack, it was starting to get dark and I was walking along a curvy mountain road [like an idiot].
Finally, a car stopped; a woman with two boys strapped in to their safety seats,
She offered me a ride to the turn-off to Monchique, as she was going the opposite way from there, which at that point I was ecstatic about. She dropped me off with a wave and I made my way back to the restaurant where I’d had lunch, and where I’d noticed a taxi parked and waiting.
Luckily he was still there!
