Full article about União das freguesias de Cerdeira e Moura da Serra
Potter’s cottage stays, chapel Mass and oak-ravine walks above the Alva valley
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The heat of the day lingers in the schist walls. At the bottom of the valley, the stream is the only traffic, its white noise rising through the pines. Cerdeira sits at 749 m, hemmed between Moura da Serra and the craggy ridge of Serra do Açor. Only 372 souls remain across both hamlets, and the school bell last rang here in 2011.
After the last door closed
1980: final resident locks up. Eight years later, Berlin sculptor Kerstin Thomas buys a roofless cottage for the price of a second-hand car. Today 17 houses have new cedar doors, a working forge pumps sparks into the dusk and a ceramics studio smells of wet clay. Apply online and you can move in for a month; day-long pottery workshops run €60 including a slate-roofed bedroom and breakfast tray of honey from the village hives. Cerdeira isn’t a diorama—six families live here year-round, but you’ll still meet more potters than pensioners.
Two kilometres uphill, Moura da Serra never emptied. Its 17th-century chapel hosts Mass on the first Sunday; in August the meadow of Relva Velha fills with smoke from sardine grills and the rasp of a concertina for one night only.
Where to eat & sleep
Casa da Videira – five rustic rooms, €80 B&B. Book ahead for kid roasted in the wood oven (€12, feeds two).
Casa de Louro – entire cottage for four, €120. Mr António sells kindling at €2 a sack; bring matches.
Walks worth the climb
PR2 Cerdeira loop – 7 km, 2 h 30. Yellow waymarks up a mule-track to Parrozelos, where the bar opens Saturdays for espresso and gossip.
PR3 Margaraça forest – 10 km return from Moura da Serra to an untouched oak ravine. Pause at Relva Velha lookout: the Alva valley unrolls like a green ribbon. No fountains; carry water.
Pack for the schist
Debit card only – the café refuses notes. Vibram soles – wet slate is treacherous. Swimming costume – Avô river beach is 15 minutes by car.
When to come
May: orchids on the verges, 22 °C. October: chestnut glow, empty trails. Avoid August: 38 °C and day-trippers.
The forge hammer falls silent at six. After that, the stream has the last word.