a cork harvest and an olive oil museum

we have been fortunate enough to have the opportunities to take these small trips out with our new friends to remote areas of rural southern Portugal. We have visited towns that would not appear on maps and could not be found without a 4WD vehicle. We take the rough and narrow roads to small lakes and big forests, noticing the mountainsides and valleys are dotted with picturesque ruins and the occasional shepherd under a tree keeping watch on his flock. 

On one bumpy mountain road with incredible view vistas we encountered and old and gnarly cork forest. The trees are marked with a number telling the year the bark of the tree was last harvested, for the minimum number of years it takes for the cork to grow back is seven. 

After the cork is harvested it is piled high for a few years to flatten out before being turned into those wonderful wine stoppers we love to sniff and examine (as well as a number of other things).

We stumble upon sleepy beach towns and remote mountain villages. We find temporary surfer camps or moveable hippie hideouts, we find quaint little homes and modern mansions on the cliff tops. Each place has its own charm, it's own feel. This is the little town of Monte Clerigo on the Atlantic side. The locals say that this town has not changed much in the past sixty years. There are a few little cafes and a small neighborhood to accompany the lovely long beach.

and the nearby river that feeds into the mighty sea:

In the small mountain town of Marmalete there is an abandoned old olive oil mill that is now beginning to be restored into a museum. All the old equipment and tools are still in there, the structure is huge! And up top they are going to make a restaurant. I'm glad that they are salvaging this old building before it falls back to the earth from which it came.