Cercal do Alentejo» Porto Covo

Starting from Cercal, the first part of the route goes through small farms, with hedges, vegetable gardens and orchards. Here, life passes to the rhythm of the sowing, the weed pruning and the crops. From an arid area, populated with eucalyptus, one arrives at a cork oak forest, and can also spot the famous strawberry tree. Although it is a bush, the strawberry tree grows to in a tree-like in shape and size. A true biodiversity hotspot, there are more than 150 different species of plants that appear along the route! About a quarter of these plants are endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, and some only exist on the southwest coast of Portugal. Along the route, you will also catch the scent of aromatic plants, such as lavender, thyme, calamints or rosemary.

On the coastal plateau, wheat fields dominate, where the larks, pipits, corn buntings and warblers cheer up the landscape even in the summer heat. These birds have perfect camouflage essential to escape predators, especially the nesting females. The nest is a geometrically perfect cup, dug into the ground and lined with dried herbs and moss. The lark’s nest is so mimetic that we may be looking at it and we don’t realize that we see it. The kestrels, small birds of prey, fly over the wheat fields in search of these birds and mice as their prey. One feels the presence of the sea in the air along your walk as you breath and take in the blue in the horizon.