foggy last hike before lockdown

Last Saturday, Mar 21, was the final day of free movement in Portugal. We had rented a car for a 2-week block, thinking we would be able to see some of the country this way. This was before most of the country had shut down. Then on March 21, we learned that lockdown would begin the next morning, with all essential services closing for a 15-day period. A hike I'd been interested in was to a nearby hillside, to a site of a paleolithic settlement with over 100 rock art carvings - an area now called "Gravuras Rupestre do Giāo". Not much on line, and all in Portuguese. 

It was forecast to rain, and the drive up to the area brought us into the clouds. We spent a fruitless 3 hours trying to find the rock engravings, in the end, without success. But that didn't stop us from having a surreal time above the treeline, exploring under granite boulders and imagining paleolithic life with stone tools, goats and likely, harder times trying to survive. Kiki recorded a meditation while the boys and I searched and tried not to get lost. The entire area is covered with gorse, so it's a prickly walk. Maybe take some time to have a little sit. 

Be carried on your breath into a short meditation guided by Kiki.
On top of Balance Rock surrounded by thick clouds
With complementary sound effects offered by birds, wind, water, Lief, Sol and Tracy. 

Burial / Initiation Mound & Chamber

Though we did not find what we were seeking, we did find a "mamoa" - an ancient burial mound and chamber dating back to the same time period. The boys were a bit disappointed to not see the skeleton of the royalty that must have been buried there.