Our long awaited Autumn holiday finally arrived, Django is now turning 5 months and although this is the second time he has been here, the first time he was in Clare’s belly.
We flew to Lisbon and a few days later we finally arrived at our Quinta.
Before we attempted carrying a baby and all the camping equipment from the truck down the half mile Donkey track, we had the brilliant idea of buying a wheelbarrow/mountain pram.
This picture is taken shortly after first sunlight hits the valley. The light hits our xist building from morning till the sun sets behind the mountains. In the early evening you can feel the heat radiating off the stone, during the day it is surprisingly cool inside the main room. This is the beginning of October and yet temperatures were around 28 during the day dropping sharply in the evening to around 10-14 (Celsius).
The photovoltaic & solar water heating panels would perform beautifully just above this building. As for wind, I have only felt a slight breeze so far.
Camping!
It was fantastic to camp at the terraces near our building. Although the first night we didn’t really choose a flat spot…
Day and night the little chapel of “Nossa senhora das necessidades” nestled in the forest on the other side of the valley rings its bells according to the time. Even with this hourly bell reminder, our clocks quickly became adjusted with the sun and time was meaningless. Wake up at sunrise, sleep just after sunset. Beautiful time.
This is one of the scariest bits of crumbling terrace wall, we started practicing some dry stone walling on the smallest terraces hoping to tackle these when we have a little more experience and some scaffolding poles…
Django loved the air, got a healthy tan, & always woke up with a smile…
Inside one of the rooms things were left like this for a while. The clay water jug for drinking water, and some now precious but usable tools are still there.
Clare cleans up the smallest room.
In the main room at the back of the house the mountain was dug, the house is built on two terraces, and so the back walls are bedrock which is common with all terrace buildings. This wall has a massive thermal mass, very good for keeping more constant temperatures indoors, and so keeping the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter if we have a skylight for winter sun on it.
Early days but in our eyes full of potential, and we just want to get stuck in.
Steps to the top terrace and top water mine. We started cleaning the water mines, but because of all the eucalyptus planted up the hill, there won’t be much water like there once was.
We will try and keep as much rain water as possible in the future, but this sunny and dry spot would turn into a green garden if we eventually drilled a borehole for constant water supply. They are expensive but probably worth it especially during dry years of which we have only heard stories yet. But some years, like 2005 was so dry that places with reliable water springs dried up.
That’s another little lovely and solid building at the edge of our place and the path leading to Pardieiros & Fraga da pena waterfalls by foot or Donkey.
The valley looking towards Benfeita and our place on the right.
Beautiful steep steps leading to the top terraces, at first a little daunting, but we quickly became accustomed to going up and down carrying tools and baby Django weighing in at 6 kilos+lovely Portuguese cakes....
Clare cooling in the top pool...
After a hard day’s work a well deserved dip at the “Fraga da Pena” water falls or as we discovered later at an even closer pool only a little walk from our Quinta.
This is a funny but very real sign in near by Arganil, which says a lot about the local population. In Benfeita there are about 30 people under 30, and the local primary school has 5 kids in total. Local people are really sweet, and we were constantly showered with bags of potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers etc. We could already survive here without having sown a single seed!
At night our building and the warm stones with beautiful starry sky.
Our camp with visitors Joni, Moni & Tiago in the other tent. The lights of Benfeita village in the background.
Clare tackling that deep dust, and clearing out big snake skins…
The original keys, and Joao's favorite tool called "pedoua" locally, like a little light axe good for cutting shaping and weeding.
Once in the village the roads are steep and we find it hard to take a break, it feels like you could roll all the way down if you were to stop. Very beautiful maze of little streets all the way down.
The beautiful steps
This is Joni in the pool that is at the beginning of the “levadas” Irrigation channels for agriculture in Benfeita and beyond, it is the closest pool from our place, perfect for cooling down after a hard day building walls.
In this picture taken from the chapel of “Nossa Senhora das necessidades” and here you can finally really see the whole land starting with the terraces below the house all the way up to the track. You can also see the other little building that faces West. This is a good picture to plan our track or simple path down to the house from the track.
This is a beautiful small alley where crystal clear water runs down the middle in the nearby village of Piodao.
Again in Piodao village, Joao opted to take pictures of drying clothes instead of the beautiful & neat Xchist buildings. Piodao was closed off from the world until the 70s when the first road was opened. It is a very beautiful place, like a museum with a very unusual little white & blue church that contrasts with the Xchist stone buildings.
Clare’s dad Ian building a wall, and sharing some skills on dry stone walling with us. We started with short wall repairs.
The other small building facing west.
beautiful
A beautiful ancient fork that came with the quinta, and Joao is not just posing he used it to clear a lot of dirt and weeds out of the top water mine.
The view from the top where the track will one day pass. From here we are actually standing on the foundations of yet another ruin that we didn’t know existed but makes a perfect lookout place since the walls have fallen to waist level.
Terrace, building and bedrock.
More of the beautiful steps...
We still
had a little time to go for a brief visit of the quinta da Mizerela where Cynthia
and Pete have been living since August, and were clearing the brambles
even before they owned it.
We happened to find their site as we googled Benfeita terraces, and it just happens that we will be very close neighbours. Their beautiful project is a one off, situated in the most magical of places, they have the whole valley above the water falls of Fraga da Pena, and have put so much work into their project, it is a very impressive achievement for such short space of time. There rains Nature with its breathtaking views and peace…
On the way passing through the beautiful water falls we spotted a red Squirrel which made us so happy.Once there we sat on a magnificent high wooden platform that holds a beautiful Mongolian yurt overlooking the valley. The place has its own “levadas” Irrigation channels that ooze the peaceful continuous sound of running water. The buildings are being renovated to look as they once did just better, there will be dry compost toilets, renewable energy is employed all around.
On the way back one of their beautiful small dogs, Nina, escorted us for a while and then sat on the top of the hill with a wise & content look as a goodbye.
Couldn’t be a more environmentally correct and sustainable project. A real pleasure to meet Pete and Cynthia, hope to go back soon for yoga and maybe learn more about meditation and a raw food diet. Untill the next time, Peace…