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Saturday the 15th of July 2023. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the use of fossil fuels has released enormous quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is a gas that reduces heat reflection from the Earth, leading to the rise in temperatures on our planet. Every year sees the addition of several billions of tons of carbon dioxide. Today we know that these will remain for centuries in the earth’s atmosphere. The speed of the earth heating up has long been underestimated. Its consequences are dramatic: ice melting, rising sea levels, devastating forest fires and ever worse …

Saturday the 8th of July 2023. None of the following is a joke. You wanted to read a story by me? You will get this story. Right here, right now. Imagine you had an accident in your youth. Maybe a sporting accident, playing basketball, say – or a motorbike crash on a rural road – or an accident at work on one of the many constructions sites of the Algarve… or anywhere else between Beja and Faro. So you are taken to hospital, to be operated on the spine. An operation that is not straightforward, taking up many hours. When …

Saturday 1st July 2023. This story begins with the loss of woodlands. The error that is committed (not only) in Monchique is probably that the forest, ie nature, is always only viewed as a commercial space. This means that any investment in forests has to yield a profit, for otherwise this investment is not worth our while. Now this refers not only to financial interests but also to labour, the physical investment, involving hours, days and weeks. So is the forest nothing but a commercial surface, something like a sausage factory? Doesn‘t the forest also hold something fundamentally honourable: conservation, …

Saturday the 24th of June 2023. Those walking from Caldas de Monchique to Esgravatadouro, continuing on to Fornalha and taking the short PR5 route up to the summit of Picota cross what you could call a minefield of millions of acacia and mimosa trees. Some of them six feet high, others a little shorter still, some already taller, they reach the rim of the tarmac road. Hikers will be crossing the dead country left after the 2018 forest fires. This is where the wild shoots of acacia and mimosa grow on both sides of the tarmac, and no council whatsoever …

Saturday 17th June 2023. There is at least one of the 308 districts of Portugal where democracy was never really thought through to its logical conclusion. Despite the fact that in Monchique too the coming year will bring the fiftieth birthday of revolutionary celebrations, an important promise is being allowed to lapse – namely the narrative of a better future through wealth. For wealth is the exact lofty magic word and the cosy state of being that many citizens were hoping for (not only) in Monchique as a result of the Carnation Revolution 1974 and of membership in the great …

Saturday 10th June 2023. So I take a 10 euro note out of the newspaper’s petty cash and try my luck in Monchique, and why not? I’ve heard about the opening of a new restaurant going by the name of Grumpy Mamas. This is where I’ll try and see whether ten euros will buy me a healthy lunch including pud. Will I succeed? The small restaurant is open Wednesday to Friday, between 10am and 3pm. The mamas, you see, have kids … On the way to Rua Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco, the bottleneck of Monchique, I am struck by the mirror …

Saturday 3rd June 2023. Rural Exodus and Water Shortages. And so it came about that on the third day Lenz walked around Monchique and back to Caldas. Like every morning, Lenz started with an intense contemplation of nature, something that formed an integral part of his study of philosophy, asking himself the question what kind of creatures trees might be? They were pumping water and nutrients across large distances up to the crowns of their branches and leaves. And not only that. They were transforming CO2 into oxygen. Why did humans disparage them the way they did? Trees were social …

Saturday May 27th, 2023. Part 2: Two days later Lenz carried on his hike, taking the scheduled bus to Monchique, in order to climb up to the convent from the village. Half way along he met a guitar player busking by the wayside who stopped him, asking for money. Walking with a slow pace, secure and strong, he placed one foot in front of the other and entered the sparse forest, leaving the musician behind, all of a sudden feeling a little safer again. A few huge trees, smelling of humidity and moss, a view towards the southwest and the …

Saturday the 20th may of 2023. Part One. On 5 November Lenz was walking through the hills, all by himself. The summits and high mountain flanks were gleaming in the sun, and the valleys below were covered in green after the rain. Brooks were rushing across the rocks, and the eucalyptus trees were swaying in the wind. Temperatures had gone up a bit again. The clouds in the sky were scurrying from north to south, as if in a hurry. The umbrella pines above him were absorbing the strong winds. The air was humid and the long valleys stretching from …

Getting to know Portugal also means getting to know its culture and its climate, its people and its regional history. Situated in the mountain range of the same name, Monchique lies in the far southwestern corner of Portugal. Caldas de Monchique marks the starting point and the finishing point of our guided Monchique Mountain Hike. On the first day guests make their own way by train to Portimão and on by bus to Caldas de Monchique (VAMUS, Line 94) to get to know the village and the accommodation (Orientation Day). The hiking guide, having lived and worked here for donkey’s …