The setting is austere and beautiful: steep schist hills, terraced slopes planted with vines, almond and olive, and a sky that is very big and very blue in summer. This is the upper Douro, a landscape shaped by centuries of wine, and the terraces of the Port country, which lie a short distance west, are a World Heritage landscape in their own right.
What brings people to Foz Côa is older than any wine. In the early 1990s, while a dam was being planned for the Côa, archaeologists found thousands of engravings on the rock faces along the valley, figures of horses, aurochs and ibex incised by Palaeolithic hunters some twenty thousand years ago or more. A long campaign led the government to scrap the dam in 1996, and the valley became a World Heritage site. Across the border in Spain, Siega Verde has related engravings and has been added to the listing. At the meeting of the Côa and the Douro stands the Museu do Côa, a long angular concrete building that merges with the hillside and explains the art, and the actual engravings are visited on guided tours, so book ahead in high season.
The riding is quiet and rewarding. Roads here are narrow ribbons that follow the valleys and climb the hills in easy curves, with the surface usually good on the main routes and rougher on the lanes between villages. In summer the heat can be severe, with the schist baking and shade scarce, so ride early. Spring brings almond blossom and wildflowers, and autumn the vine leaves turning gold and red, and the harvest in September fills the valleys with activity. Winter nights can be freezing.
Vila Nova de Foz Côa, about four kilometres away, has fuel, food and rooms, and this is the best place to refill before heading out, as the villages around are small. A glass of local red with grilled meat is the natural meal, and the almond cakes in the pastry shops are worth buying for the road.