Quinta das Abelhas

This is a truly beautiful walk, through an area completely full of citrus trees. Surprising that such a large area is warm enough in the winter for oranges, this far north and that high up.

Most of the orange groves are in a state of disrepair and abandonment, which is a shame. According to a sign on the route, the orange groves have been there since the 1700s.

We passed several fontes, filling our water bottles at each.

And passed through some pretty run down villages, surrounded with old orange trees. There were oranges everywhere.

Before entering an area of orange trees and river. We continued so far, but it was getting late and we decided to return another day, earlier and with a packed lunch to walk the entire route, of 7kms.

The route is very well signposted, with yellow and green lines painted on rocks and walls to show the way.

This sign gave us a short detour to the river, and coincidentally another geocache that we didn’t manage to find. Just a bit further, where we decided to turn around, there was an area that stank of wild boar. I mean really stank, there must be plenty of boar in that grove!

The Rota dos Laranjais is definitely worth walking, if you are in the area.

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