A long, winding road leads to the highest mountain in Portugal, and here, unlike many other European peaks, visitors can drive straight to the summit. The summit rises 1,993 meters above sea level, and although its actual name is Torre (the tower), most people call it the same as the range above it: Serra da Estrela, or “mountain of stars.”
By day, the drive offers great views across the undulating landscape of this narrow country – from the red hills of Spain in the east to the blue Atlantic Ocean in the west. However, the real spectacle comes when the sun begins to go down. This mountain is not only a popular place for watching golden sunsets, but for those who stay later, it offers a gleaming night sky mural, made up of millions of white tanks scattered in gorgeous imperfections.
Over the past decade, Portugal has gained recognition as one of the best places in the world for travelers to observe the night sky, thanks to the creation of the 3,000 square kilometer Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, in the Alentejo region of central Portugal. In 2011, the reserve was certified as the world’s first tourist destination by the Starlight Foundation, a UNESCO-supported international organization that promotes science and tourism. This state celebrates the region’s ideal viewing conditions (low levels of light pollution and an average of 286 clear nights per year, resulting in some of Portugal’s darkest skies), as well as the broader tourism infrastructure it has inspired, which is set up specifically to meet the needs of viewers. stars.
Dark Sky Alqueva is also the starting point for an amazing three-hour road trip that takes you through some of the least light-polluted parts of Europe, meandering along the region’s Dark Sky Trail (a curated array of activities and accommodations), and soaring all the way to the highest peak in Portugal, which is called Aptly called Serra da Estrela, or “Mountain of Stars”.
My friend and I began our intergalactic journey 300 kilometers south of Serra da Estrela on a particularly dark night in the village of Comida, where a school has been converted into the Dark Sky Alquiva Observatory, which hosts stargazing sessions and astrophotography exhibitions. Here we met Miguel Claro, the official guide and photographer for Dark Sky Alqueva.
“Portugal is waking up to this unique and very valuable natural resource that has long been underappreciated,” Claro said. “Dark Sky Alqueva is the astronomical equivalent of a giant wave discovered by Nazareth surfers – something that was hiding in plain sight, waiting for people with the right sensitivity to take a closer look.”
Claro is a deep space specialist, and when he’s not taking groups on starry expeditions at night, he spends his time photographing distant objects like nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters. These are things that can look dull and confusing to the naked eye or even through a telescope lens but are bursting with color and detail when photographing.
