Two months ago, on a short trip to our highest mountain range, Serra da Estrela, a storekeeper told me that the weather was so warm during the New Years Eve that he was selling ice creams at 1600 mts amsl, in his own store, at Lagoa Comprida.
However, as the saying goes, when it rains it pours and, after one of the driest winters in my memory, the end of March brought wet weather and a massive snowfall, carpeting Serra da Estrela, above 1500 mts, in pure white.
In this picture, taken close to Nave the Santo António, an ancient glacier circus, suspended between the glacier valleys of Unhais da Serra and Zêzere river, we can see the majestic sight of the most dramatic landscape in our highest mountain. On the horizon line, where the earth meets the sky, we can see, from left to right, the cyclopic rocky formations of Cântaro Raso, Cântaro Magro and Cântaro Gordo. Like mytological figures, these three monolithic brothers, sculped by water and ice over 300 million years, stand tall, guarding a natural patrimony that we recognize now as deeply vulnerable.
Picture taken handheld with Xiaomi Mi11i smartphone.
