Portugal
Atlantic cliffs, fishermen's paths and a coastline without end.
Portugal walks along the edge of Europe. The Atlantic coast is the country's long artery: cliffs, dunes and wide beaches that can be followed almost continuously from the Spanish border down to the Algarve. Inland it turns hilly and quiet: the fields and cork oaks of the Alentejo, the slate mountains of the north, and in the far northeast the Serra da Estrela, where the land climbs towards two thousand metres and sees snow. The climate sets the rhythm: in summer the inland heat is heavy, but on the coast a sea wind is always blowing. The Fishermen's Trail follows the Vicentine Coast through the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, on the narrow paths that fishermen have used for centuries to reach their fishing grounds. It is a narrow footpath marked in white and blue, much of it over sand and along cliff edges, and therefore heavier than the distance suggests. Outside the summer months, from September to June, the coast is at its best and quietest.
