Fraga da Pena

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For more photos of this beautiful waterfall, including a little video clip of it, go to our flickr album.  Believe it or not, we went swimming in this!!!

At the heart of this community runs a stream that tumbles down the hill between Pardieros and Benfeita in a series of waterfalls called Fraga da Pena. It is recognized as a place of outstanding beauty. As you walk up to the waterfalls, you pass by a few old mills and a series of leats and other constructions in stone – steps, benches and tables mainly. Some of them look very old. We don’t know the history of this place – did people use the tables and benches there for some work, and if so what kind of work, or has this been a tourist spot for a long time? The waterfalls have a sacred feeling to them, maybe it was a place where people came for some kind of healing? Why is it called Fraga da Pena? Hearing some of the personal stories, one can certainly say that this valley offers its fair share of pain…

I haven’t quite got to be bottom of what makes this community tick, and somehow I get the feeling that this stream, and especially the waterfall, holds the key to the answer.

Another special place in this landscape is the church just below the waterfalls, called Sra. das Necessidades. As it has a fairly flat car park, we park up there for a few nights and enjoy the sunshine in the morning. We use the pump in the yard to have some bracing early morning ‘showers’ – it is getting rather cold… One day I go in search of a functioning toilet in the building nearby and I find a few bats hanging from the ceiling :-)

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Posted in Uncategorizedwith 3 comments.

Comments

  • ruthandfrank says:

    Thank you, Brigid!

  • Brigid Bowen says:

    Beautiful double stream waterfalls, looks a very special place. Living water – reminds me of this poem:

    Like the Water by Wendell Berry

    Like the water
    of a deep stream,
    love is always too much.
    We did not make it.
    Though we drink till we burst,
    we cannot have it all,
    or want it all.
    In its abundance
    it survives our thirst.

    In the evening we come down to the shore
    to drink our fill,
    and sleep,
    while it flows
    through the regions of the dark.
    It does not hold us,
    except we keep returning to its rich waters
    thirsty.

    We enter,
    willing to die,
    into the commonwealth of its joy.

  • Vera Lees says:

    Dear Ruth and Frank,
    Kaki fruit plopping juicily from the trees takes me back to Italy. The lusciousness of the Mediterranean is mythical. Your descriptions of those valleys in Portugal are entirely magical. The hard work those dedicated people are prepared to undergo is admirable. I think Clio should get acquainted with Lisa and her alpacas to help her clear ground. I would think it could fire my son Jools’ imagination too. It is still interesting that a couple would prefer to do the same venture rather here in Devon and Cornwall.
    Wishing you both a cozy mid-winter time. With much love, Vera xx