Car ride from Valezim to Torre, Serra da Estrela, Portugal

On the second day of December, and after a walk along the Mondego Walkways, I decided to drive up to the highest point in mainland Portugal, and the second highest in Portugal, only surpassed by Pico Mountain, located in the Azores on the island that gives it its name.

On this cold but very pleasant December morning, after waking up from a very restful sleep after my 24-kilometer hike, I took the car (whose windows were completely frosted over) and drove up to the highest point in mainland Portugal (Torre).

With the landscape still icy, but green, I left Valezim very early, and immediately decided to report the gradual changes I saw in the landscape around me, as the temperature dropped, so the landscape transformed in front of me, and the green was gradually replaced by white, and by the silence of a landscape not yet trodden (by car wheels, or people's footprints), a great advantage of leaving home very early!

As I climbed from an average altitude of 1,600 meters above sea level, the clouds remained at my feet, covering up the deep valleys and hills that I was leaving behind... An idyllic landscape, don't you think? It almost looks like something out of a children's storybook... Even briefly, I could see a small herd of cows trying to feed on the fresh, green shoots that were blossoming from the icy ground.

There were no roadblocks, because that night, although cold, it hadn't rained, so the snow I would encounter along the way wouldn't be of a quantity that the snowplow and its trail of salt couldn't deal with. As I didn't have snow chains for my car tires, it was perfect to have unconditioned access!

The magnificence of the icy water, which covered all the shoots and even the road signs, made the landscape magical... I lowered the window a little on my side and listened to the thin ice slipping and breaking, mingling with the sound of grinding salt poured minutes before... a pleasant blend of sounds, as I drove at low speed and glimpsed the magnificent scenery. Whenever I could, I stopped the car and got out, taking advantage of every second to fill my lungs with fresh mountain air and record in photographs all the joy of this intimate contact with nature in its purest state. Some experiences are priceless, and believe me, this was one of them... Feeling the immensity of what surrounds me, making me completely aware of my dimension and real importance in this small point of our globe.

Thank you for your attention🍀

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Photographic edition with PhotoScape X