Branda de Mosqueiros, a seasonal pasturage settlement built in the Middle Ages, is very well integrated into the landscape. It consists of a complex of single-storey shelters with corbelled roofs, built from slabs of roughly hewn granite, scattered over the plateau. Next to each shelter there is a small pen for cattle, opposite its entrance. Inside the shelters, the floor is unpaved
Part of the megalithic monuments known as the Antas do Soajo, the Mezio Megalithic Site consists of about a dozen monuments scattered over a high plain of about 2km in length, erected around 5000 years ago.
The megalithic group of Mezio is a case of rare importance, not only because of the scientific information it provides, but also due to the recovery and enhancement of our heritage from such a remote and unique period.
Embroidery and lace are the mirror image of the soul belonging to their artists, who seek inspiration in nature, nature of contrasts, rustic or mild, earth or ocean, river or mountain, soft or hard tones of the sky, flowers, fish or birds.
The "Alto de Minho" is a region where the art of embroidery is an important and sorted wealth, which extends itself over the whole "Ribeira Lima" (Lima Riverside region), and where the embroiders and lace-makers transmit inheritance and tradition.
The embroidery in this region is very diverse, since the famous and traditional "regional garments", to the embroidery done with pieces of linen and cotton: Towels; cloths; tablecloths; handkerchiefs; etc, not forgetting the emotional "lover's handkerchief".
Although some of the species are now extinct, such as the brown bear and the mountain goat, the National Park still presents a very varied fauna, with important species like the wolf, the roe deer, the wild boar, the fox, the wild ferret and the otter.
Of special importance among the bird species are the endangered royal eagle, the kite, the woodland screech owl and the titmouse. Among the reptiles the most important are the rarely found Seoane viper and the horned viper, as well as the water snake, the water lizard and the green lizard. Amphibians of special note are the rare Lusitanian salamander, the tritons, the Iberian frog and the midwife toad.
The typical vegetation of the region is oak. It is almost always the black oak that predominates, coexisting with an impressive diversity of ferns, mosses, lichen, mushrooms and other plants such as the endangered holly.
There are woods where the Gerês lily can be found, but the plants are mostly heather, genista, gorse, broom, gramineous plants and juniper. This latter, like the woodland pine, the yew, the white birch and the rare Gerês fern, is a true relic of glacial flora. The varied climatic influences occasionally result in unexpected flora, with examples being the cork oak and the British oak. In the higher zones you can find areas that are always flooded, where the carnivorous plants, most particularly the "Orvalhinha", are a constant feature.
Oaks dominate most of the Gerês area. The woods can be divided into two different types of biotopes: the alvarinho oak woods and the black oak woods. The first are located in low altitud and warm valleys. Here, besides the alvarinho (Quercus robur), you can find the butcher’s broom (Ruscus lusitanica), arbutus-tree (Arbustus unedo) and the laurel cherry-tree (Prunus lusitanica), among others.
The main square in the village of Soajo is presided over by a pelourinho, which is classified as a National Monument. It consists of a simple standing stone post, similar to the «tronco» whipping posts that were common in the 13thcentury. It is a crude monument, of enormous historical and ethnographic value - testimony of the age when this mountain village was a town. The date of its construction is uncertain, although the town charter presented by King Manuel in 1514 may have inspired its construction, given the pelourinho's function as a symbol of municipal jurisdiction.
This village is on the road from Soajo to Peneda. It is possibly the best preserved village in Peneda-Gerês. The buildings are all in granite clearly showing the patina of time, which helps the houses to merge with the hillside on which they were built. The surrounding pastures are terraced and follow the hillside down towards the vil1age. Note the stone granaries, the bridge, the water mills and the ancient granite-paved road.
Soajo is a settlement centred around a square where all the village's streets and lanes used to converge. It is a curious form of town planning, radial, more extensive to the south and towards the swathe of fields and lanes, full of bends and still more frequented by animals and poultry than by men.
Interesting example in stone ashlars, with a bell tower attached to the right of the front. It has simple but elegant steps.
In Soajo (and Amarela) there are many options for you to savour calmly. The Papas de Sarrabulho, Barrosã steak or the Portuguese Cozido (is has everything, several meats like pork, cow and chicken, potatoes, rice, etc) and the trout are main dishes. There are also some excellent sweets such as candies of Arcos or Charutos (cigars made from eggs).
These granaries are distributed, side by side, across a large outcrop of granite, which serves as a collective threshing floor. There are twenty-four granaries in the Minho-Galician style, with a long, low stone body and variations in the forms of the roof posts, bases and doorframes.
These architectural elements can be dated back to the 18th and 19th centuries, the oldest being from 1782. They are now classified as Buildings of Public Interest.
The Garranos are small bay horses, descendants of the horses represented in the incisions inside the caves of Lascaux and Altamira. They derive therefore from a very ancient breed present in the Portuguese territory from prehistory, as seen in paintings of the Paleolithic era.
The wood work, gives gratifying memories to the people of "Alto Minho", not only in the experience with it at work, manifesting itself permanently in work activities, but also in cereal cultivation, especially with corn cribs or open baskets, to benefit their excellent drying qualities . It's raw material, characterises a population known for its subsistence on their own agriculture, which is hard and laborious.
"Arcos de Valdevez" and "Ponte da Barca" are the capitals of corn cribs, with examples of architectonic importance, emphasising the conjoined corn cribs of "Soajo" (Arcos de Valdevez) and "Lindoso" (Ponte da Barca) "half-and-half" with the "National Park of Peneda Gerês".
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