Good morning. Today's Pulse travels from mountain pastures in Melgaço to a reappearing village beneath a reservoir, with a UNESCO visit in the Oeste and quieter news of homes and habitats along the way.
A five-day international mission has begun to revalidate the Oeste Geopark's UNESCO Global Geopark title, reviewing four years of work in education, geoconservation and local development. Field visits cover geosites across all eight municipalities, in what local representatives call a shared responsibility.
At more than a thousand metres in the serra de Melgaço, the Branda da Aveleira marks three decades of celebrating transhumance. The two-day gathering honours a roughly 900-year-old practice and the communities that sustained it.
The complete guide to the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros, presented in Amares, will appear in several languages as foreign pilgrim numbers grow on this route between Braga and Santiago. Book sales will fund a new information portal, with the authors emphasising heritage and sustainable tourism.
Commentator Jorge Mendes told CNN Portugal that the large wildfires now affecting Europe are extremely difficult to control, driven by heatwaves and very low humidity. He notes they are occurring with unprecedented frequency.
Summer drought has lowered the Rio Homem reservoir enough to expose the ruins of the communal village submerged 55 years ago for a hydroelectric dam. The sight is drawing crowds to the river beaches in Terras de Bouro, where the former residents' association manages access and recalls the story of the displacement.
The Madeira Ornithological Association ran an awareness session with children at a summer holiday club in São Martinho, part of its 'Criar é Preservar' education project. It also confirmed the second Madeira International Bird Exhibition for October 2026.
Bamboo & Coconut, beside the river Cávado in Amares, is dismantled each winter because of flooding and rebuilt for every summer season, with restaurant, live music, yoga and a boutique. Visitors should note there is no lifeguard supervision and entry may involve a minimum spend.
Former GNR houses and the old tax office building, transferred from the State to the municipality, will become 14 dwellings in an investment of around 1.5 million euros. The project forms part of the Local Housing Strategy and of an intermunicipal plan for 350 to 500 affordable homes in the Leiria region.
The 'ecological islands' set up in the service parks are being used by the teams to collect oils, fluids and other contaminated materials, which go to a licensed operator. Organisers see a positive result in avoiding soil and water contamination.
A short read every morning — what's happening across sustainable Portugal.
