Peneda-Gerês National Park

Holly | Lagoon | Lily | Waterfall

Nature

The Peneda-Gerês National Park (PNPG), an authentic natural museum, shelters unique plant species on the continent, such as the Gerês Lily and the Gerês Fetus. In altitude zones, representing traces of post-glacier flora, there are species of alpine formations, such as juniper and divine herb, accompanied by yew and birch or birch forests. The slopes subject to Atlantic influence are covered with black oak, oak-roble and holly woods.

But the climatic variety of the PNPG still allows the existence of typical Mediterranean vegetation. It is then on the warmer and sheltered slopes and valleys, that it appears exuberant in the form of the cork oak, strawberry tree and Portuguese laurel. In addition to this set, there is also the medicinal and aromatic flora, in the form of herbs, shrubs or small trees. Emphasizing the cranberry, the gorse, the hangman, the S-herb. Roberto, the hawthorn, St. John’s wort or S-herb. João, the chamomile, the mallow and the wild strawberry.

Soajo | Vilarinho das Furnas | Minhoto Costume | Desfolhada

Tradition

On the slopes of the mountains there were populations that erected cliffs and glued to the ground. They divided the land, designed terraces, planted vines, olive trees and orange trees. They directed the water lines and took advantage of the streams, created an agropastoral economy that resists the erosion of modern times. In the hills they extracted granite and built houses and villages united around the church or the chapel. The people who live here have affected nature to the needs of collective existence. They formed a landscape that is recognized and that, gratefully, returns the soul and the way of being to those who inhabit it.

Viper | Bufo Real | Garrano | Sardão

Fauna – Peneda-Gerês National Park

Living in a state of freedom, in a semi-wild regime, the Garrano do Gerês is a rare species in the world. This, even today, traverses part of the Serra do Gerês, cohabiting with other mammals. Of these, the Corsican, the wolf, the fox, the genet, the otter and the water mole are the ones that deserve greater prominence. On the other hand, some birds of prey are observable in the mountains: the golden eagle (almost extinct), the round-winged eagle, the bald eagle, the kite and the owl. On the ground, a great diversity of reptiles: black viper, water snake, bastard snake and toothed-fingered gecko. As amphibians: Lusitanian salamander, orange-bellied newt and webbed newt.