Incinerated Cathedral

Don't panic. Not a real cathedral. Rather, the local rock formation I mentioned a while ago. As we returned from our eclipse-viewing trip to Braganca yesterday afternoon, we could see a plume of smoke from miles away -- it was visible from the motorway up north of Viseu....

As we approached home, we realised the fire must be quite near Tabua. But it was only when we came down the long hill from IP3 towards the Mondego River bridge that we understood just how close it was. The whole area above and below Pedra de Se (the rock cathedral) was burning, as were the woods on both sides of the road up to town. What a depressing sight to return to! The fire was huge -- in the strong winds it had travelled kilometres to reach this point -- and according to friends had even crossed the river a couple of times.