Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês

When I knew that Carlos would fly to Porto to join me for my birthday, I did some research online to find out how we could spend these days together. Turns out that there is exactly ONE National Park in Portugal: Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês. It's located 100 kilometres notheast of Porto and was created in 1971. After reading a bit about the National Park and looking at some pictures, I knew that this was the perfect place for us. Loads of nature, forests, waterfalls, natural pools. Exactly what we were looking for :) On top of that we were super lucky with the weather. End of January and it felt like summer!

Without a big plan we started driving to the National Park and found a cute place for the night. It was a bit outside of the Park because you are not allowed to say overnight in the National Park.

The next day was my birthday :) I am very careful to use the word "perfect" but this day was pretty perfect. After having a very quiet night without any other campervans, we had breakfast outside in the sun. Then we started driving without a plan. (That's how we usually do it.) By chance we ended up in Spain :)

The National Park is absolutely beautiful! We did some tiny hikes to different viewpoints and waterfalls. And we just enjoyed the drive and being together. After a cold shower at the campervan we got some pizza and a bottle of wine. Life is damn good!

The next day was pretty similar. After spending the night in the same place we started driving and found some beautiful places in the National Park! The highlight of the day was probably the spot where we spent the night. That was just crazy amazing! No people, beautiful views, a very quiet night. We went for a run, I did some clean-up and then we had another nice dinner. Welcome to vanlife :)

Thanks for having us, Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês! Three nights felt like three weeks! That definitely a very good sign :)

We had another beautiful morning close to the National Park and then drove back to Porto. I dropped Carlos off at the airport and then I was alone again...