I visited the village of Vila Nova de Foz Coa on oct.,the 19th and 20th,2024.

I had booked a tour "Canada do Inferno" through the official website of Coa Parque weeks before for sunday morning, october the 20th. On the 19th I arrived at Pocinho by train and by pure luck I got a taxi to my accommodation.

Before I took the taxi, I had visited the dam and the closed (but nevertheless accessible) former train and car bridge of Pocinho. Highly recommended, especially since it only takes a short stroll to get from the train station in Pocinho to both places. 

 

At around 10.00 on sunday I joined a group of 6 people (all from the USA or Canada). The tour started in a 4x4 jeep with 8 seats+1 driver (Daniela,our competent guide,herself drove the car). After several km in car we went on foot. The final section is a narrow but well-maintained track on foot stretching some 400 meters until the first engraved outcrops shown to the public.  

Daniela, our guide, was full of passion and explained everything in an interesting and exciting way. Our group was well informed, asked some damn good questions and was very open-minded. A perfect 2.5 hour tour with a classy guide that flew by. The drawings were clearly visible because the angle of the sun was perfect at that moment. I was very satisfied with both the tour and the museum. Without our website worldheritagesite.org I would never have gotten to that corner of our planet that is now firmly engraved in my memory...almost like the various animal drawings in the Coa Valley

Canada do Inferno is located on the left bank of the Côa in the area where the abandoned Côa dam was being built. 

The Côa Valley Archaeological Park is located in the northernmost part of Guarda district, in the region of Alto Douro. In the final section of the Côa river, more than 80 sites with rock art and around 1200 engraved outcrops are located in a territory of about 200 km2 covering areas in the municipalities of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, Pinhel and Mêda. A gigantic open-air gallery! The Mecca/Walhalla of all rock arts sites.

The Côa Valley is a unique site in the world due to the rock art from various moments of Prehistory, Protohistory and History, including the most important collection of Paleolithic open-air figurations known today.

To be more precise one can say that in the Côa there are, in greater quantities, rock engravings, and, in smaller numbers, rock paintings.

As for the museum,it is one of the largest and most spectacular  museums in Portugal, it sits sublimely at the top of the mouth of the Côa River, blessing the meeting of the two world heritage listings in the region: the Prehistoric Art of the Côa Valley and the Douro Wine Landscape.

After the tour I had around 40 minutes to visit the museum. 

Just a warning for whoever visits that whs site with public transport.The distances are considerable both from the train station Pocinho to Vila Nova and from inside Nova Vila to the museum. Walking from Vila Nova to the train station Pocinho is easier than the other way round,but not really recommend.Taxis are rare.Asking for a ride seems to be the easiest way to get from A to B.The locals are friendly and always ready to help a foreign visitor.