Pechão

Pechão is a Portuguese parish (freguesia) in the municipality of Olhão, it’s about 9 km from us and we drive through it every time we go for groceries in Olhão. Today, on the way home from our early morning jaunt to pick up fresh bread at our favourite bakery, I noticed a sign indicating a caminhada and we decided to head home, do a few things in preparation for tonight’s dinner then Joanne and I would head back and explore.

Another wonderful find, close to home, country and village routes and in total, just over 10 km in a loop. Doesn’t get better than that.

As is quite usual for us when hiking, São Miguel is somewhere on our horizon.

This lovely, and large, hand painted tile on the wall outside a lovely home on a small side road.

I absolutely love it that people “decorate” in such creative ways. These are old trees, long past their prime but still painted to brighten up an area outside the gates of a large house.

And speaking of gates

The walk was very rural at times and in a couple of places we weren’t entirely convinced we were still on the correct path but as always, stay with it and eventually another marker will appear. It adds to the adventure to think you might be lost from time to time.

A *galinha d’angola* (guinea fowl). We came upon a large field with 7 of them and you ought to hear the hysteria!! Initially they are curious and come close to us then the moment we move the star scooting away from us, logs of clucking and gurgling. When they run ,they tend to lean their heads back and they look so silly. They always make me laugh.

Another lovely hand-painted tile work in the village of Pechão on the main street. The 25th of April is a national holiday in Portugal called “Freedom Day.”. Freedom Day commemorates 1974’s Carnation Revolution when the Portuguese people backed a military coup and overthrew the Estado Novo dictatorship that had ruled the country since 1933.

A another wonderful one for our future repertoire. There will never be enough hikes!

And as I close, last night I roasted a pan of quail for dinner….we thought it was worthy of “honorable mention”!! I know when I asked to prepare it again, it’s a hit.