Favaios - Alijó (Serra do Vilarelho) | Portugal

Hello everybody.

As i have already mentioned, one of the most beautiful times to visit the Douro region is during the harvest, and that's exactly what we chose to do.
After checking in, we got back in the car and went exploring the surroundings. Upon arrival, we passed several vans loaded with people (kids and adults) and containers full of grapes. Harvesting is a culture around here and these days everyone takes part.

In all the houses we pass, which have a little land, we can see the vineyards loaded with grapes.
We then went to the small village of Favaios, where almost the entire population (around 1000 inhabitants) is dedicated to winemaking. Even though the name Favaios is well known, i believe they didn't want to leave room for doubt and upon arrival at the place we can find in big letters and a huge kite: FAVAIOS Capital of Moscatel, the name given to a group of very sweet grape varieties.

A good wine always goes well here, but before that we went to discover the corners of this village. Very peaceful and welcoming, preserving many of the old buildings. The primary school building still has two separate entrances for boys and girls (but they are no longer used), which has since been converted into the local post office. In front there is a beautiful garden with lots of shade where we took the opportunity to rest a little as the heat was great.

Everything was well looked after, but we were surprised by the fact that we couldn't hear a child in the surrounding area, a clear sign of the aging population and desertification. It is in these moments that we realize that we have places where you can have a good quality of life but that are losing inhabitants as opportunities are few and even in the surrounding areas agriculture and baking prevail as job offers.

Following our path we found a square with some terraces, where the locals relaxed. There it was possible to find the Passos do Concelho building and the Favaios Bread and Wine Museum. In the distance we heard the Church Bell ringing and we followed the chimes. In fact, it doesn't take long to get to know this place, yet it doesn't lose its charm because it's small.

There is a saying in Portugal that goes like this: "Wherever you go, do as you come" and as we don't like to waste opportunities, we passed by Adega Cooperativa and went for a wine tasting. I'm sorry, but here are the photos only at the entrance, as we really wanted to enjoy the moment.

We were positively surprised by this place. I increasingly enjoy getting to know my country and everything it has to offer us and it has been an extremely rewarding experience to be able to share all these corners with such a diverse community.

In the next article i will share some recordings made at one of the high points where a small chapel is located and from where it was possible to take fantastic recordings that allow you to visualize the surroundings and all the local farms surrounded by vineyards as far as the eye can see.
That's all for today, stay close and don't miss the next articles :)

Photo by @aleister
Camera - Samsung SM-A528B
Camera - Canon EOS 600D
Lens - EFS 18-55mm
Location - Portugal

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Always remember:

Value your time, because every fraction counts, and the price of anything is the amount of life you trade for it.
May the memories of the travels be eternalized in the photographs, and may the photographs transport us back to the travels ;)

[//]:# (!pinmapple 41.26612 lat -7.50218 long Favaios - Alijó (Serra do Vilarelho) | Portugal d3scr)