This grandiose castled fortification and the singularity of its heritage within these walls, allow Trancoso to be part of the select club of Historic Villages of Portugal.

Walking round the ramparts of Trancoso, allows us to take in an era with a wealth of history and enjoy the views of broad and surprising horizons stretching out into the distance

Interesting points in the Region

Trancoso Historical Centre "Historical village of Portugal" :
Castle, walls, important centre for jewish history, singularity of the urban surroundings.

Cultural and Natural Touring (in 70 kms around)
» Historic Villages of Portugal - Trancoso, Marialva, Castelo Rodrigo, Almeida, Castelo Mendo, Belmonte, Linhares da Beira.
» Natural Park of International Douro and Alto Douro Wine Region (World Heritage)
» Natural Park of Serra da Estrela
» Archaeological Park of Côa Valley (World Heritage)

Active Tourism
4WD vehicles, BTT, Motorbike e 4 whell motorbike (learning services available, orientation and guide, with road books starting at the Hotel)
Ballon rides, rappel, slide, escalade, paragliding, tracking, paint ball.

Gastronomy and Wine
Visit to Wine and Olive Oil – producing Farms of Alto Douro Region (Port wine vineyards)
Visit to cheese of Serra – producing Farms (Special Portuguese Cheese)

PEDESTRIAN TRAIL  of
SHEPHERD SHELTERS IN FEITAL AND BROCA MOUNTAIN
(Trancoso-Portugal)

ROUTES: Feital - Garcia Joanes - Drill - Vilares - Maçal da Ribeira - Vila Franca das Naves- Feital

Historians Warren Dexter and Warren Cook (Castleton St. College, USA) stated one day that the shepherd shelters built of loose granite in Serra do Feital (Trancoso-Portugal) contain "language and messages that exceed the knowledge to become a own alphabet that might be called as Oghan, used by the Celts to mark property boundaries, relay messages, but most used for magical purposes or cryptic messages of nature. There is some evidence that has been used to keep genealogy records, numerical scores or commercial transactions”.

The alphabet of the Celts is basically comprised of 20 "letters", divided into four groups of five letters each. When it was used in rocks, the edges of which served as the axis that contains every letter in a vertical direction from bottom to top. Each letter represents a sound, and also a tree containing a magical or spiritual significance.

The central line represents a tree trunk, and traces represent the branches.
Traces betting lines and these constructs were interpreted by American historians as manifestations of written language.

The shelters are simple houses with reduced dimensions, walls without master or beams or gables. Served to shelter the shepherds wandering in the Mountain with their flocks of the bad weather and wild animals or other beings that brought the imagination, and collection of agricultural implements are facing east, using a technique that is attributed to the Celts, protecting themselves so the cold winds from the north and heavy rains from the southwest. The sun, birth, early warmed the small cabin. In summer time, also home to the heat that beats down on the side opposite the entrance or portal.

There is thus a certain mysticism in Shepard shelters in Serra do Feital, marrying the Sun early dawning on the horizon. It is said that the technique is used in the construction of Celtic influence and guidance of the nascent shelters us to convey an image of mysticism, alignment with the source of life, the vital energy of the planet, the Sun that the Celts worshiped under name-Belenus The Celtic Sun God.

The Serra do Feital is a "sanctuary" where this "art of pastoralism" merges with the landscape sprinkled with small loose stone buildings resemble mushrooms, cryptic, solitary. They are like telluric emanations that frame the landscape.

Across the centuries, the stones that are made shelters persisted throughout time. There were no architects, designers, engineers to plan them, have no cement or mortar nor beams.

The Shepherd Shelters
The shepherds shelters spread the Serra do Feital, Broca and Vilares. Include more than a hundred.

Are similar to the constructions of fortified settlement. The Castro da Feiteira site , who is said to have given rise to the Feital, has examples of these constructions. Sizes range may have little more than five feet wide inland to about two –three meters tall and can accommodate one or two people or more 20 people in the wider. The unit also depends on the stone at the site and setting as the option and agility builder.

Disperse the mountainous region of the parish Feital until Vale de Mouro e Broca, through Garcia Joanes, Alto do Feital, Corgos, Quinta das Eiras or Penedo da Vila, extending through the mountains of Vila Franca das Naves and Vilares.

Rout:
 Trancoso-Feital (National Road No. 220 --- 10 kilometers away).
Trancoso-Chafariz do Vento -Feital (1) - Garcia Joanes - Broca- Vilares - Maçal da Ribeira - Vila Franca das Naves - Feital

Total travel time: 5 hours approx.
Material needed: Map or guidance letter, appropriate shoes, walking stick, water bottle or bowl with water, food fortification, coat (if winter).
Material Optional: Camera, camcorder, tablet or other imaging equipment, ll phone, portable intercom radio, first aid box.

(1) - The route may include a visit to the Castro Feiteira, about a thousand meters to the east of Feital, prior to the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula and named the current village. In the Casal da Fonte Grande there are three anthropomorphic graves, a mill, two cylindrical columns of granite and other traces mark the Roman occupation of the place. Next, Quinta das Eiras is uninhabited.

(Jose Domingos)