We are staying in the ancient village of Chas d’Egua where all the houses are built with slabs of schist. The rough cut stone slices are placed over each other and the roofs are built with large, flat plates of the grey stone. A white washed church that remains shut, rings its bell with automated precision every hour and is the only sound you hear for most of the day. We are told by our host at Casa Quelha, that only 8 people live in this village. One morning, Dhanya sees and old grandma sunning herself at a veranda amongst the grape vines.

Early mornings are cool and crisp with martins sunning themselves on the roof slabs.

We head to Piodao the picturesque schist mountain village a few miles down below. Piodao attracts a small number of tourists due to its distinct charm. All the houses are clustered together and built of schist. The doors and windows are bright blue. All in all it might be a cluster of eighty houses with a small but old church in midst of it.

Back in the day, these hills were where convicts went to hide, since it was so difficult to reach or search for people in these hills. Interestingly some people still carry the name of the assassin who escaped from the wrath of justice in the 14th century.

We walk the narrow lanes and take pictures against the blue doors that line the grey shale. A legend claims that the only shop in the village had only paint in blue so blue is the prominent color of decor here.

Cobbled stone streets lead to stairs that look and most probably are ancient. Apparently these villages on the hill sides of the Serra do Acor were originally populated by shepherds gracing their flocks. The hillsides are cut into neat and multiple terraces and small stone buildings that must have served as shepherd’s quarters spout everywhere. These are easily distinguished by the their simple one room structure. They are also often in disrepair and lack any binding material in between the stones while the newer buildings have concrete in between.

Grape wines grow abundantly all around along with lemons and apples. It must have taken a lot of toiling by the ancients to shape the hills and to begin to cultivate it. We taste the violet grapes straight from their vines. Arjun can even pick them off as he rides in his carrier. The ripe ones are deliciously sweet and the seeds add a crunchy bite. These grapes are grown for wine. The O Fontinha restaurant is a small eatery in Piodao that serves some award winning wines and excellent Chanfana, goat stewed in wine.

In the late afternoon, it thunders and the rain is cold. We take shelter under one of the porches of a blue doored house. The rain did not relent for quite a while, so I jog quickly to our car and fetch the umbrellas. Arjun is fast asleep in Dhanya’s arms and we manage to reach our home in Casa Quelha without waking him up or getting too wet!

After a hot shower, I need to get groceries. Chas de Egua, Piodao and Foz de Egua nearby do not have anything like a grocery store. People seem to have their own vegetable gardens. The nearest grocer is 12 kilometers away in a village called Vide. Driving through the drizzle I arrive at Vide and the shop seems closed but a short conversation later( Vende vegetales?) the lady who had just closed the store opens it for me. It is a small store, with basic necessities and I get some frozen meats, potatoes, canned tomato and over ripe bananas. I buy enough to feed us for a few days.

There are no restaurants in Chas de Egua, and only one in Piodao, so we need to cook all our meals. One of the paradoxes of supply chains is that it’s quite difficult to get fresh groceries in verdant mountains. Of course, you can eat a lot of grapes from the orchards and feast on the wild blackberries, but it would take a lot of picking !

The next morning, when I am sunning myself at the local cafe’s veranda, we hear a loud honking and see a van approach. It is the promised Thursday appearance of the much awaited Mendes the baker. Arjun is excited by the raucous van. We buy a beautiful block of goat cheese and crunchy freshly made corn bread. The limp looking sliced bread I got from Vide yesterday, is now not so precious !

Next day with leftovers packed in ziplock bags we start off from Piodao and do the short hike to Foz de Egua. After the rain of the day before, the moss is wet and the stone cool. We are walking along an ancient trail that connects the villages here. Ferns and lichen glisten in the shade of tall Eucalyptus trees. Arjun is happy to walk and finds a branch that he imagines is a cutter with blades.

We make slow progress, with Arjun stopping frequently to inspect the “blades” of his branch. There is plenty of time to smell the sage and photograph the purple blossoms of heather. We finally emerge out of the shade and its pleasnt to warm our backs in the sun.

We can see windmills rotate slowly on the ridge across the valley. Our trail passes above the terraced hills. Stone steps connect the levels and I can imagine a lot of farming happening here in the old days when these villages were peopled.

Arjun finds a nice slab of shale, and we take a break and set up a “mud factory” . The sharp shale is a great excavating tool.

Nutcrackers pierce the silence with their raucous calls. We arrive at Foz d Egua another tiny village, which has a beautiful wide stream with a sort of a swimming pool with icy water. Many seem brave enough and are taking a swim in it.

Dhanya wanted to an impromptu swim in the cold waters, but sadly didn’t have a swim suit or a towel so she had to make do with wetting her feet in the water.