it faces north, like something that doesn't want to be found
You're driving the track linking the schist villages of the Serra da Lousã and you might not notice it. Casal Novo faces north, tucked into a fold in the hillside, and the vegetation around it hides its outline. You have to stop and go down. Entry is through a single street, in steps, with a serious incline, that runs the village from top to bottom. Halfway down the threshing floor appears, which now serves as a viewpoint: from there the Lousã plain suddenly opens up with the castle down below. Five minutes before you couldn't see anything; now you're looking at a whole town.
What's here is the original layout almost intact: the stepped street, fountains and tanks along the way, the threshing floor at the top. Over the ruined houses vegetation grows on top of the schist. The village today lives mostly as second homes. Don't count on a restaurant or a shop: bring what you need.
The path that structures the village continues down the hillside towards the Praia Fluvial Nossa Senhora da Piedade, in the valley bottom. Those with time walk down on foot. The others go back to the track. From there on, anyone passing wouldn't guess it was there.
good to know
- the street is a stairway with a serious incline; proper footwear helps
- halfway down, the threshing floor serves as a viewpoint over Lousã and the castle
- don't count on a restaurant or shop in the village; bring what you need
- from here you can walk down towards the river beach at Senhora da Piedade
