The (in)visible border

You can tell you are entering Portugal by the difference in the tar on the road after the bridge over the Tourões River. Beforehand, the passage through the fort of Our Lady of Conception already announces that the discreet valley of that river was a hard-fought border. There are other traces of this ancient war between Portugal and Spain: the castle of Gardón, written in the 17th century as Goardão, was the fortress that "kept" the Spanish border; on the Portuguese side, a stronghold was built at Vale da Mula, but the key to the defensive system of the restoration of Portuguese independence (1640) is 7 km ahead, in Almeida. This city was "hidden" behind mighty walls and, even today, the exact star of its perimeter, only truly visible from the air, represents a singular moment of the fight for the border.

If you start the journey at dawn, don't forget your reflective vest until Alameda de Gardón. The small patches of pine forests indicate that the landscape is starting to change. Further ahead, you have to ford the Dos Casas stream, which can be difficult during the rainy season. When you cross the border, the language of the people changes and so does the time.