The group that manages the magnificent trails along the stunningly beautiful SW Portuguese coast of Alentejo takes care of about 450 km of trails along some of Europe’s most well preserved coastline. It’s too hot to hike these trails in the summer, so plan to go between late September and late April. November and December are the wettest months, but it doesn’t get too cold here. In this episode, Kit Parks talks with Julianna Barnaby about its well-marked hiking trails.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Rota Vincentina Walking Holiday on Portugal’s SW Coast

 The group that manages the magnificent trails along the stunningly beautiful SW Portuguese coast of Alentejo takes care of about 450 km of trails along some of Europe’s most well preserved coastline.  It’s too hot to hike these trails in the summer, so plan to go between late September and late April (November and December are the wettest months, but it doesn’t get too cold here).  These well marked trails include:

 The Fisherman’s Walk

Walk along the coastal trails used by the local fishermen and villagers, to see incredible cliffside vistas!  However, this is not a trail for someone with vertigo or fear of heights.  These impressive and often imposing cliffs can be tall!

But so worth it:  This 125 km trail is considered one of the most beautiful in the world!   The trail is well blazed to hike in either direction from Porto Covo to Odeceixe and then as part of the Historical Way, to Cabo de San Vicente.

As in all nature, but particularly with the Atlantic ocean battering the coastline, the cliffs are in a constant state of change and are affected by erosion, so each person who walks this trail can see a different landscape as the coastline changes over the weeks and months.

Always running along the coastline, the Fisherman’s Trail follows the trails used by locals to get to the beaches and ‘hot’ fishing spots.  

The Fisherman’s Walk is made up of five sections with four adjacent circular walks, which today’s podcast guest,  Julianna Barnaby of The Discoveries Of blog.  recommends that you detour to take as often as time permits.  Each section is a day’s walk apart.  There are accommodations at the end of each section.

Julianna says she never felt unsafe while hiking the trail, but said the cliffs can be quite tall so you have to watch your step.  Often one of the hardest parts is when you are walking directly in the sand, since it requires more effort to lift your feet.  

I give this a difficulty grade 3 out of 5 for this reason (you will be on sand 60-70% of the time, with one of the days being particularly challenging).  Also, note that since you are directly on the coast, winds can be strong.

This is a popular ‘pedestrian only’ trail.  It is too hot to hike the Fisherman’s Trail in the summer, so walk it from fall through spring.

The Fisherman’s Trail connects with the Portuguese ‘Historical Way’ pilgrimage trail in Porto Covo, Odeceixe and Arrifana.  

The Portuguese ‘Historical Way’ to Santiago

 

While not as well known as the Spanish pilgrimage trail to Santiago de Compostela, the Portuguese Way is another important pilgrimmage route from the Middle Ages.  The Rota Vincentina folks have recreated the historical path from Santiago do Cacém to Cape St. Vincent on a path that takes you through multiple villages where you can visit the churches and old country homes, meet the townspeople and others also on the pilgramage.  You will be able to see the sea from the Sierra summit.

 

The Historical Way trail in Portugal is made up of twelve sections over 230 km.  Each section is a day’s hike and there are accommodations at the end of each.  It interconnects with the Fisherman’s Trail a couple of times so you have the opportunity to walk a bit of both if you want as you pass through the Vicentina Natural Park.

 

Unlike the Fisherman’s Trail, this path is open for both pedestrians and mountain bikers (as is the Spanish Way – see Episode 006 of the Active Travel Adventures podcast).  

 

This trail takes you through towns and villages, through oak forests (including cork oak) and eucalyptus, mountains and valleys, and over rivers and creeks – stunning!  This trail is not only beautiful, it adds a cultural and often spiritual dimension to your adventure.  Go in the spring to see the most wildflowers.

 

Portugal is known for its cork, as the magnificent cork trees cover 8% of the land.  And on this land, Portugal produces over 50% of the world’s cork!

 

In 2016, this trail was awarded the title of a Best of Europe Leading Quality Trail by the European Ramblers Association.

 

 

Circular Paths

In addition to the two trails above, you can also take some circular routes that are off shoots from the main paths.  There are eight circular routes from which to choose.  You can either walk or mountain bike these trails.  Walking takes a half day or less for each.  The total distance for all the circular trails combined is 89 km.

Julianna recommends taking as many as you can, as they all offer something special.  

Or, if you don’t have time for a long distance hike but want to get a taste of the beautiful SW coastal region of Portugal, then a great option is to do one or more of these circular paths.

You don’t have to worry about transfers as the trails start and end in the same place.

On these trails, you will see the ‘yin and the yang’ of ‘progress vs history’ in SW Alentejo:  historical farming balanced against preservation.

As with the Fisherman’s Trail and the Historical Way paths, there is an abundance of wildlife, especially birds, to observe amongst the interesting native flora.

The eight circular routes are: Almograve, S. Luís, Troviscais, Santa Clara, Sabóia, Odeceixe, Bordeira and Carrapateira, that complete the classic trails: the Historical Way and the Fishermen’s Trail. 

‘The Discoveries Of’ Travel Blog

 I first found Julianna by reading her blog.  In our interview today, Julianna tells us about her hike of the SW Alentejo coast of Portugal on part of the Fisherman’s Trail, the Historical Way and some of the Circular Routes.

 You can follow Julianna and her adventures here:

 Facebook     Instagram     Twitter   Pinterest     Blog

 Best Hikes of Europe          Alentejo Portugal Travel Spots

Julianna’s Other Recommendations:

In the podcast, Julianna made a couple of recommendations for anyone planning to hike in SW Alentejo:

1. For a real treat, stay at Paula’s Figuerinha Ecoturismo. This ecotourism lodge is an exquisite escape and respite from your hike!

2. Bird lovers will love staying at Frank’s Quinta do Barranco do Estrada.  With any luck, you can join Frank on a birding tour!

Get more of Julianna’s recommendations on her blogpost on Alentejo Portugal Travel Spots

John Hayes Walks blog

A nice blog post on hiking the SW Alejeto area is on John Hayes Walks. John was also kind enough to share some of his beautiful photos with us – thanks, John!

Here is John’s itinerary and you can read more at JohnHayesWalks.com.

The excellent Rota Vincentina website can help you plan your own itinerary to suit your tastes and timeline.

Take a Rest Day!

 If you’ve got the time, plan to take a rest day or two so you can spend more time soaking up the local culture.  Here are a couple of great towns to spend an extra day or two:

 

Santiago do Cacém 

 Visit Portugal’s second largest town where you can see the coast from its highest point at 346 m.  Wonderful crafts of wood, wicker, cork and ceramics.  For more things to do, visit the tourism board website.

 

Vila Nova de Milfontes

 It’s hard to believe that such beautiful natural coast line is not overwrought with tourists!  Enjoy the cobbled streets, whitewashed villas and outstanding food and wine!

 

Interested in other Walking Holidays?

Cotswold Way in England

West Highland Way in Scotland

UK’s Best Walking Holidays

El Camino de Santiago Spain

Active Travel Adventures Podcast Directory

Time Stamped Show Notes

00:00 Intro
01:30 Julianna Barnaby gets into Adventure Travel
02:45 Overview of the Rota Vicentina series of trails
04:00 Accommodations
05:05 Do you need to bring your day’s water
05:30 Best times to go
06:10 Portugal is relatively affordable
06:44 How to get to the trail heads
07:41 Do you see many people
10:00 Is the Way like the El Camino
11:00 Landscapes and cliffs described/ cork trees
13:10 How harvest the cork
14:25 Mediterranean plants you’ll see
15:55 Wind sculpts the landscape
16:28 How well is the trail blazed (signed)
17:15 What if you can’t speak Portuguese
18:05 Can you go solo
19:32 How difficult is it
20:06 Walking in deep dune sand
20:19 How exposed are you
21:15 Birding
22:46 Good ‘rest day’ villages
25:05 Luggage Transfer service
25:47 Advice for hikers
26:48 Take some Circular Routes
27:25 Must plan accommodations in advance
29:30 Julianna’s most striking memory
30:37 Julianna meets a fisherman
32:09 How this trip compares to others
33:15 The Discoveries Of blog Julianna writes
35:13 Julianna explains “Discerning Travel”
36:13 Final thoughts: GO!
Review the Active Travel Adventures podcast please!

(c) Active Travel Adventures 2019

SW Portugal Rota Vincentina Walking Holiday

Do you think Europe has gotten too expensive and crowded to make it worth your while to go over there? Think again. On this episode, our guest is going to teach us about an area in Europe that not only is the landscape stunning, but the price is right and the people are wonderful. The weather is gorgeous, particularly in the winter so it’s a great winterscape. You’ll feel like you’re in Europe like it was 50 years ago before the throngs of tourist overwhelmed it.

In this episode, we’re going to do the Rota Vicentina or the Fisherman’s Walk and some surrounding trails on the coastal cliffs of Portugal. We’re going to go in an area that is not touristy at all and you will also feel that you’re seeing Portugal as it was decades ago. All at a price that you can afford. Like all of our shows, on the show itself, you’re going to get a general overview, flavor and taste of what these adventures are like. Can you start by introducing yourself and perhaps telling us your age?

My name is Julianna Barnaby and I am 32 years old.

How did you get into Adventure Travel?

It’s a slightly convoluted story which started with me working as a travel writer after university. I left the travel industry and worked as a lawyer for five years in the city before I started the blog when I left the law. I created a travel blog which I’ve been working through for the past years. That’s how I got into Adventure Travel and how it’s developed.

Were you always very physical that you like to hike, bike and all that kind of stuff or is that something new to you once you started traveling?

I’ve always enjoyed hiking and there are things that have definitely come along with traveling. I was hardly qualified when I got my PADI qualification for diving while I was traveling. Some of the more serious hikes and long-distance hikes that I’ve done, my mind started to want traveling. It’s been pretty interesting.

We’re going to talk about hiking in Portugal. Can you kindly give us a brief overview?

One of the hikes that I’ve done is the Rota Vicentina which is a series of trails, two main trails in the Southwestern Portugal mainly in the Alentejo region. One of them is the coastal trail called the Fisherman’s Trail and the other one which is more inland is called the Historical Way. I have large parts of both of those trails and they’re beautiful. The Fisherman’s Trail is formerly created at around 2012. It’s relatively new and the Historical Way was created after that as well. There are a series of circular routes that go on different parts of those trails too. The Fisherman’s Trail goes all along the coast of Alentejo region coastline and it’s beautiful. It’s a great way to be able to see the rugged landscapes and to see the rough Atlantic coastline in an area that hasn’t been hugely developed that doesn’t have loads of large hotels or lots of development along its way. It’s such a nice way to go and see a different part of Portugal and a beautiful part of the European coastline.

Is this something because that’s not so developed that you need a backpack or is there a village within walking distance each day? How do you do that? How do you figure out the logistics?

The logistics, let’s say the Rota Vicentina team. There’s a community team around the trails and the back of the trails. Also, they have masterminded the ways that you can do these hikes. It’s quite cool because even though it’s quite rural and a lot of the times in places that are hugely developed in terms of lots of accommodation, the ways of the days tells me you start or finish somewhere where you can stay in a B&B or a local bed and breakfast, hotel or somewhere. You don’t have to come to the bistro.

Do you need to pack your day’s water or there’s plenty of water along the way?

You do need to pack your day’s water. There are places that you can refill along the way. Sometimes few and far between. It’s quite warm temperature-wise unless you’re hiking in the winter months. It’s definitely one where I would recommend packing your own water and lots of it.

What months would you say are the best months to do this? I assume summer might be too hot?

Yeah, summer is too hot. I recommend from late September as the earliest, until April or May. In between May to September, it’s very hot. When I was hiking in the trails, it was mid-October and we’re still looking at temperature some days like 30 to 35 degrees. It’s hotter in the summer months. The team’s advice and also, I would completely agree with that is to try to avoid the hotter summer months.

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If I’m not mistaken, Portugal is one of the more affordable European countries.

Yes, it is. Portugal is definitely more affordable to travel in than a lot of other European countries, especially in Western Europe. In terms of cost, it’s a great one. You can get great food, great wine at relatively inexpensive prices. It’s a good value country to travel in.

How hard it is to get to the starting point to start the trail? Do you use any kind of mass transits? Is it a bus or train? How do you get about once you get into the country?

You can do it in a number of ways. I drove and rode the train back to the beginning. It’s a combination of train and buses back to the start point. Again, I think that you can arrange transfers. There are transportation partners. You can fly into Lisbon and Faro, then you can either take a bus or train in some of the nearest stops then arrange a private transfer to get you there. There are so many ways that you can do it and there’s a lot of information on the website to help you plan how to from and in between different destinations.

Are you by yourself out there or are you seeing other hikers or villagers? Tell us a little bit about your day to day interactions with people.

It depends on what trail you are doing. The Fisherman’s Way, which is the coastal trail, has become increasingly popular in the past few years. In total, it’s now in between all of the trails is now about 20,000 people a year hiking the trails. The large majority of these people are hiking on the Fisherman’s Trail. On a day to day basis on the Fisherman’s Trail, you are going to see other hikers. Not all the time and you’re certainly not tail backing hiker to hiker. It’s called the Fisherman’s Way because it’s the way the old Portuguese fishermen used to go to the best fishing spots on the coast. There are a lot of small fishing villages which is cool and they are incredibly friendly and hospitable locals.

You can expect to come across a lot of locals and there are also things if you do some research ahead. There are also cultural programs that the Rota Vicentina team put together that you can learn about azulejos, the Portuguese tiles and learn about the specific cultures of a particular area. On the Historical Way, it does move from town to town largely. It starts in Santiago de Cacèm which is, if I’m right, is the beginning of the Portuguese Camino that goes from town to town. In between the towns, you’re not going to come across that many people because there are very few people that are hiking this trail. You are not going to come across that many hikers either, but you generally start and finish either in a town or a village. There are great opportunities to interact with the locals and the kinds of towns that aren’t necessarily in guidebooks. List those places that you have to see in Portugal that are so inherently Portuguese and a part of Alentejo region.

When they call it the Way, is that a pilgrimage similar to the El Camino de Santiago which is like a pilgrimage route or is it just a trade’s route? These are traditional paths that the local people would use.

The Historical Way is the Portuguese Camino de Santiago. It forms the Portuguese’s pilgrim’s route to Santiago. They call it the Historical Way because it’s a traditional pilgrimage route for Portuguese to go. The Fisherman’s Trail is a lot busier that’s not to say very busy, whereas if you’re hiking the Historical Way or the circular routes, they’re a lot quieter and a lot of the time, a lot of the day, the only people that I’ve seen while I was hiking that trail were locals.

We did cover the El Camino. Can you tell us a little bit about the landscape particularly on the cliffs? Are these wide paths or scary paths? Tell us a little bit about what kind of things we’ll see.

It varies very much. What you will see varies a lot on a day-to-day basis. They’re not scary paths, they’re quite narrow paths and cliff drops are quite steep, but at no point would I say that it feels perilous or particularly dangerous. You need to pay attention to where you’re walking but you’re not close to the cliff’s edge or at least the paths that will take you very close to the edge of the cliff. I said some of the cliffs are high. They’re large cliffs for a part of the landscapes along the Fisherman’s Way. That turns into limestone cliffs in other parts of the way. There are all other things as well. There are large bits where there are huge coastal sand dunes. You are weaving in and out of sea views and then there are these huge sand dunes with coastal grasses that you’re winding your way between. It was one of the hardest day’s hikes because hiking through sand dunes feels like three times as much worth as hiking on a normal path.

It was an interesting contrast of the day’s hikes because it was something that I haven’t expected at all. In land, there is a lot again. There are a lot of cork plantations so you’ve got huge space of cork trees and you can see the last time that they’ve been harvested for their cork because they’ve all got numbers written on them to show the landowners when they’re next due to be harvested for their cork. You go through small towns, open grasslands and you go through a small wooded forest area. It’s not just cork. Although that area, a large majority of the forest are cork because that’s traditionally what’s being grown in the region. You do get a lot of variety on the both of the trails.

For a lot of people, they may not understand how you harvest cork which is something Portugal’s known for. Can you talk a little bit about that so people can get an idea? If you know the season that they harvest it, it would be cool too.

I’m no expert on this but my understanding is that they use the cork’s bark to create cork over a period of time, it’s every seven years roughly. They will strip the tree of a large proportion of its bark and that is how you’re harvesting the cork. You can’t do that on a yearly basis. It takes another X period of years, I think it’s seven, but I can be completely wrong with that. It takes another seven years for the cork tree to regrow the amount of bark that would mean appropriate ready to be harvested again. They would strip the tree of its bark to use as cork and that’s something that Portugal is famous for and then you leave to regenerate before you do it again for a period of time.

I mentioned that it would be very stressful for the tree and it’s going to take it some time to recover and reproduce again. From my research, I see that a lot of the landscape or even though Portugal is more Mediterranean in the landscape. Is that correct? Do you see some rosemary and some of the southern vegetation? Can you talk a little bit the kinds of plants or things if you know anything about that you might see?

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It’s a stark contrast to England where I’m from. It rains all the time and we have lots of green grass farmland and landscapes. This is a very dry and arid landscape a lot of the time. The cliffs are very bare and stark. Even in the land, when you’re walking along dusty parts punctuated like a Mediterranean Scotland vegetation. It’s vegetation that clearly has get by without a huge amount of rain all the time. I saw a lot of dill growing, rosemary and a lot of thyme which makes sense because it’s a lot of the things that you see in Portuguese cooking. There are also some vineyards in the Alentejo. It’s becoming increasingly well-known although it’s always produced a large amount of wine for Portugal. That wine is starting to get a better reputation or increasing its reputation internationally. There’re also vineyards but the natural landscape is dense and quite dry, quite arid with Mediterranean vegetation.

Since it’s on the coast, I lived on the coast of North Carolina and the winds almost carve the vegetation so it’s hunched over. Is it like that as well? Is it very dramatic?

Yeah, it is very dramatic. The parts of the walk that I completed, there were not many trees nearby. When you did get trees near to the coast, as you said, you get that bent tree effect. There is a huge expanse of Atlantic Ocean where the winds can blow that to fierce speed and the coastal landscape definitely reflects that.

How well is it blazed or marked? Is it well signed?

Yes, it’s incredibly well-marked. It’s one of the best trails that I’ve had the luck to follow ever. You can pick up a trail guide before you set off and it tells you the different colors for the trail markers. Also, a lot of the time, if there are two potential paths, not only will they give you a marker to tell you the right one but they give you a marker for the incorrect path to show you not to go that way. It’s easy to follow. The coastal path tends to be easy to follow anyway because you’re following the coast, but the inland Historical Way was safer and incredibly well-placed.

If you don’t speak Portuguese, is that an issue to people speaking English?

There are a lot of places when you’re not going to find people who speak English. However, I don’t speak Portuguese, but I didn’t find it to be a problem. There’s always a way to communicate. I do speak some Spanish which isn’t the same language. It helps a little bit in some of the trickier situations, but I know, all the people who try to speak Spanish don’t speak a lot in Portuguese. You hike the trail without any problems. It helps if you have phrase book in case you got stuck but I don’t think you’re going to run into huge problems.

I always find a smile, which works pretty well too. It’s part of the fun. Is this something that is suitable for solo or should you go with somebody? Did you go solo or did you travel? Can you tell us a little bit about that so people might consider doing the trip themselves?

I took that hike with a friend, but I would have felt comfortable doing that hiking solo. Based on the Historical Way and the Fisherman’s Way, I am completely fine doing both of those solo. In terms of distance, the longest distance that you’re looking at each day is 25 kilometers. The well-marked trails, the people are very friendly, the places to stay, you can arrange it all in advance. This is one way that you can completely tackle it solo without any qualms or worries. That said, I did do it with a friend and as with any hikes sometimes it’s nice to have companionship on the longer days but equally doesn’t mean that you don’t take as much time to appreciate your surroundings at times possibly. I’ll tell you and I would suggest that you do it solo or two is maximum. You could do that as a family. Some of the Fisherman’s Trail’s days are more physically demanding so you need to assess whether that is appropriate for your kid’s fitness levels. As you’re doing solo, it’s not a problem at all.

On a scale of one to five, how difficult would you rank it?

I would rank the Fisherman’s Trail as a three and the Historical Way as a two. Overall, it’s not tough. There were some days that are difficult day on the Fisherman’s Trail. As I said before, it was the day where it was flat but sandy. That was a long day of walking through rough sand. A lot to me was one of my tremendous days where surprise me because there are days that you’re ascending and descending a lot more. The day that I was coming through the sand took its toll.

I live on the coast and don’t get to tides right, and have to walk back at high tide. It is very difficult because you have to keep your feet. You’re shuffling and lifting your feet if you’re wearing boots. Speaking of that, are you exposed the whole time or are you on the treetop? Talk a little bit about that.

You’re all pretty exposed a lot of the time particularly on the Fisherman’s Trail. The Historical Way, you walk through cork groves and walk through the olive groves as well so you’re less exposed but definitely on the Fisherman’s Way, prepare yourself with plenty of sun cream. If it looks like it’s going to rain make sure that you’ve got something that’s wind proof or water proof. There’s not a huge amount of shelter or protection from the elements. With that said, the weather in southwestern Portugal tends to be pretty good. If anything, you’re going to be more worried about the fact you’re going to get sunburned than heavily rained upon although that can happen. The winds can be pretty fierce so I’ll prepare for that.

I’ve read too that this is a good birding area. Did you see much wildlife?

Yes, it is a good birding area. One of the places that I stayed which is a slight detour from the Historical Way is a place called Quinta do Barranco da Estrada and that’s one of the best birding destinations in Europe. The owner Frank has a reputation as one of the best people to go bird watching with worldwide. That particular area where it’s based is incredible like we saw a ton even if we’re just hiking around like the reservoir. We saw huge amount of bird life but generally, the region as a whole is good for bird watching. It’s good to keep an eye out. I’m not an expert. I wouldn’t be able to say which kind of birds we see but we saw a lot of them and they’re very different. It’s a unique experience. I’m the guy who wants to find a piece and a real character. Also, it has this huge reputation for running one of the best places for bird watching in Europe. If you’re interested, I would recommend this one.

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I’m definitely interested in going there myself. If somebody wants to take a rest day, what villages or towns would you recommend? They take a day and let their body rest and explore a little bit or maybe do some laundry. What would be some good stopping places?

There are quite a few along the way. Santiago do Cacèm which is where the Historical Way ends is a nice town. Very important as a historical Portuguese fortress and old Moorish castle there. It’s quite a nice old church and beautiful and nice covered streets that you can spend all day wandering around from café to cafe. That was a nice place to spend some time. One of my other favorites was the town of Vila Nova de Milfontes. I’m sure a Portuguese person would be upset about my pronunciation with that but that’s a lucky town because it’s part of the stop on the Fisherman’s Way. It’s quite big not in excessively way. It’s quite a large town.

It’s one of the largest in town that came across the scope of the trail and cool independent cafes and restaurants and traditional Portuguese bars. Great place where you can do horse riding and nice hotels where you can splashing out and treating yourself. Those are the two that I would recommend but also a lot of small villages that are pretty cool where you can spend some time in there as well. One of the circular routes which have a nice ecoturismo which is called Figueirinha Ecoturismo. That’s a cool place because the owner created this eco tree in the middle of absolutely nowhere. It’s got a natural swimming pool. Beautiful plant life within the swimming pool and it’s got this huge cool tent that you can stay in. The owner Paula creates these amazing meals made up of ingredients that they largely grow themselves. That’s another cool place if you want to get off-grid for a day and totally kick back and get off-grid and I recommend that place.

Is there any luggage transfer service available on these trails? I got back from the Cotswold Way and I had a company moved luggage?

The answer is I’m not sure. Now, I know that the Rota Vicentina deal with a lot of these programs with people. If you get in contact with them and speak to them ahead and manage to book it in advance, it’s something that would be possible. I didn’t take advantage of it. I wouldn’t know exactly how that works. I do know that they tend to be very good in trying to make this accessible as possible so I presume that they do.

Is there anything that you wish you had known before you have gone there? Is there any advice you’d like to give people as they plan their own trip?

The advice that I would give is to get ahold of the guide. There is an in-depth guide book that the Rota Vicentina had fit together on the trail. It gives you a day-to-day breakdown of each day on the Fisherman’s Trail and each day on the Historical Way. It’s incredibly useful not only because it’s going to help you plan your hike. While you’re hiking, it gives you information about what you’re seeing along the way. One of the reasons that they started the trails was to showcase the Alentejo region because it’s not on the other tracks of Portugal or Europe.

If you know a little bit on what you see about the places that you’re going to, makes it an even better experience. If you’re looking at the landscapes and thinking about that, it’s cool. That would be one of my pieces of advice. The other one would be, if you can take some time to do some of the circular routes that they have along the way. The two main routes are linear there are a number of circular routs, there are eight and they’re increasing those. They already could because they get you completely off the beaten track. It’s very rarely are people doing this. They have different themes, some of it fits their culture and some of them are taking you to beautiful places. If you incorporate those into your hike, I would highly recommend that you do a couple of them and I enjoyed them.

Is this something that you have to plan your accommodations in advance or can you go and see where your feet say, “It’s time to go to the next village and stop.”

I would definitely plan your accommodation in advance because some of the places that you go to are quite small. There’s not a huge amount of accommodation available. I don’t know the laws of camping in Portugal, if you were camping, bring a lot of flexibility but if you would stay in the accommodation, it’s worth doing it in advance. It’s very easy to plan if you have the guide because it gives you a day by day breakdown of where you would expect to start to stop. You can change that if you’re tired, you can stop a little earlier. They do tend to have created the trail each day of the trails so that you stop somewhere where there is accommodation. If you change the length of your days, then you’re going to end up in a place where there isn’t any accommodation at all.

Let’s talk about food.

It’s wonderful. It’s good. I think Portuguese food is gaining an increasing reputation in Europe and worldwide. Its simplicity is brilliant. I did not have about me while I was doing the hike at all. Along the Fisherman’s Way, you can see a ton of seafood and even on the Historical Way. It’s not that far inland, so there’s a lot of great seafood with good quality. There’s a lot of long time focus on self-sustainability. A lot of locally grown produce and simple ingredients and fresh herbs that come from around that region. The food is brilliant and tasty. I’m very hungry thinking about it.

The food is always very important but particularly if you’re working hard all day, you’re looking forward to at least one special meal. When you talked about this trip to your friend or people that are inquisitive. What’s your go to the story? What’s the memory that pops in your mind and says, “That’s this trip.”

It was that one day when we were walking along the Historical Way and we went for about three to four hours without seeing another person. I thought, “How rare is that?” If you’re hiking in Europe, along a trail that isn’t incredibly well-known and its’s by no means a secret and you don’t see another person for three to four hours while you’re hiking through these beautiful rolling hills of cork and with olive groves. That to me was this trail, is the fact that it’s a chance to take in some of southwest Portugal’s finest landscapes and sometimes in complete solitude. That popped out for me because it’s so rare when you’re hiking in Europe that you get that experience or at least along the trail.

Any other stories that you remember that you would like to share?

People are quite diverse and eclectic in a way that they travel depending on where they’re traveling to. Click To Tweet

Every time you get to talk to someone, at least if you could find someone who could translate, it’s always interesting to hear what they’re saying about their lives. One of the days we were in Brejão or Zambujeira do Mar, we’re talking to this Portuguese fisherman and he was telling us about how he gets out in the middle of the night to go and fish. Although it sounds quite terrifying, setting off in the middle of the night, in a very small boat into the very rough Atlantic sea. He took us to his home to show us how his father-in-law’s hand prepares the nets. In the course of an hour, I’ve learned something completely new and this person without any prompting, welcomed us and shown us a part of what he does on a day to day basis. That is very traditional and you’ll find that a lot when you’re doing the hike. Local people are happy to see people taking in interest with their regions and they’re very proud of their culture and their lifestyle. You get a good opportunity to be able to see that along with the incredible landscapes in Southwestern Portugal.

You’ve extremely well-traveled. How would this adventure compare to some of the other things that you’ve done?

Incredibly well. It was a surprise to me that Rota Vicentina because it showed that even though I have been to Portugal a number of times, it’s probably eight but I haven’t yet explored that part of the Alentejo coastline. I haven’t explored that part of the interior of the Alentejo. It drove into me even though you’re well-traveled, that you’ve been to a country several times, there’s still so much to explore. The Rota Vicentina, the network of trails, is one of the best hikes in Europe which is why I listed it in the article to say it’s one of the best hikes in Europe. It’s completely different, amazing views and incredible landscapes. The Atlantic Ocean on one-hand has cool landscapes on the other and it’s a wonderful trail.

Julianna, you’ve got a blog and you’ve been into travel for forever. I love your motto of, “More adventures and less pay.” Tell us a little bit about what you’ve got going on and how people can reach out to you and follow you and see what you’re up to.

I have a travel blog The Discoveries Of which I started several years ago after coming back to the travel industry. I first worked on the travel industry as a travel writer. I’ve left that and started with the travel blog. The idea is to celebrate the excitement and the discovery that you can find personally from travel. We can all go to and see a lot of pictures of the same faces, you can read a lot of articles, and you can travel to cool spots, I live in London, a lot of people travel here. There’s so much that you can personally discover on adventures that you can go on. The blog is to help inspire you to take those trips and gives you practical information about when you’re there, how exactly you can get about, where you can be, what you can do and hikes that you can go. It’s a combination of inspiration and practical information. You can find the blog on www.TheDiscoveriesOf.com and also on Instagram @TheDiscoveriesOf, Facebook which is the same and on Twitter which is @DiscoveriesOf. I’m pretty much hanging out on social media a lot of the time and always happy to hear from people’s questions or suggestions or any feedback. It’s always a pleasure.

Do you have a favorite social channel?

My favorite social channel is Instagram because you can communicate with people easily and quickly there. I have a lot of communication with people through blogs. They follow me on Instagram and I spend time to keep people there.

Julianna, you have a travel philosophy you’ve called Discerning Travel. Tell us a little bit about that.

People often ask me about while I write about destination, culture and adventure. That’s where I get the idea of Discerning Travel. It’s doing all activity that speaks the destination. Sometimes, I was in Mauritius and stayed in a lovely five-star hotel, which is beautiful but equally, I spent two weeks driving across the Atacama Desert because I felt that’s the best way to see and experience that destination. When I say Discerning Travel, it’s traveling in a way that best suits the destination. People are quite diverse and eclectic in a way that they travel depending on where they’re traveling to. They globally embrace and tells that too.

Any final thoughts for our readers?

If you’re wondering whether you should go to Rota Vicentina, the answer is you should. If you do have time to go to the Historical Way and the Fisherman’s Route, I would highly recommend it. If you don’t, do one and try this one a couple of years later.

Thanks, so much for your time, Julianna. That’s been great.

Thank you. I’ve enjoyed it.

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After my conversation with Julianna and looking at the photos that she and other bloggers have put on, this adventure has moved way up on my list. In fact, I’m going to try to squeeze it on this winter if I get the opportunity as soon as I finish one big project I’m working on. I like the fact that you can go in the winter time when a lot of places that I like to hike are not available or they’re very expensive. This is affordable. You’re off seizing getting to Europe and the airfares are cheap and it’s an economical country to visit on top of that. I love the fact that it’s not heavily traveled. In this day and age, airfare has pretty much come down and like to complain they’re still cheap as compared to a few decades ago. So many people have been lifted up poverty across the world. There are a million more travelers. To find a place that is so beautiful and so underexposed to the tourism trade is remarkable. I’m glad to share this adventure with you. There are 8,000 podcasts out there right now. It’s hard to make a dent among the masses and get seen. If you’re enjoying this program, I would sure appreciate a five-star review. Post right now, scroll down and give hopefully a five-star review and let me know what you think of the program. It will help others to find the show. I would surely appreciate. Thanks.

Important Links:

• El Camino – previous episode
• Cotswold Way – previous episode
• www.TheDiscoveriesOf.com
• @TheDiscoveriesOf – Instagram
• Facebook – The Discoveries Of
• @DiscoveriesOf – Twitter

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