Guide to Extremadura- Finca al-manzil and Beyond: NATURTEJO GEOPARK- FOSSILS AND MORE AT PENHA GARCIA, PORTUGAL

Friday 12 April 2013

NATURTEJO GEOPARK- FOSSILS AND MORE AT PENHA GARCIA, PORTUGAL

A day trip to Idanha-a-nova region in Portugal, particularly Penha Garcia and the Geopark where there are wonderful fossil walls.

* see former post about Idanha-a-velha in the same area.
http://finca-al-manzil.blogspot.com.es/2010/05/little-village-of-idanha-velha-with-its.html

The fossils can be seen on a specially designed walk in the Ponsul canyon where you will find several outcrops of quartzite that contain beautiful specimens of trilobite ichnofossils: Cruziana. These examples are 300 million years old!

The patterns are extraordinarily intricate and very beautiful, one doesn't have to have any "fossil knowledge" to appreciate them on a purely visual level.

The river valley walk is wonderful in itself, a deep gorge which ends in a high dam wall with the original water mills clustered on the river. The mills are open to the public and have been sympathetically arranged with old milling equipment, the guide will set the milling device in action so one gets a real sense of the milling process using the power of water.

After climbing up from the valley over the dam wall the castle of Penha Garcia looms over the walk back into the village.

We found a traditional padaria, baker, still using a wood oven and producing delicious Portuguese rustic bread, traditional cakes, also selling local honey and herbs. The two jolly girls had recently started this enterprise and it seemed to be thriving. We bought two different types of bread and honey to take home and pao com choriço to eat immediately, it's irresistible, bread dough wrapped around spicy choriço and then baked, really yummy!