There is a bird that no longer flies over the Portuguese mountains – and which, of all the species that have disappeared, is perhaps the most telling example of what it means to lose a scavenger: the Bearded Vulture.

Vale Carapito rewilding area, in the municipality of Sabugal, has been recognised as a Private Protected Area (APP), making it only the fifth area in Portugal to be granted this conservation status. The decision marks a milestone for privately-led nature conservation in the country and for the development of rewilding as a tool for ecological restoration.

For thirty years, Cantinho has opened its doors on one of the most beautiful hillsides in Castelo Rodrigo. It was born in 1995, just as the village was joining the network of the first ten Historic Villages and living through a whirl of building work, new faces and hope for the future. It grew out of a wish by Helena Sousa's parents, with an idea that was simple and rare for its time: to create a space ready to welcome those arriving from elsewhere, without ever ceasing to be a home for those who lived here. In 2001, Helena and her husband, João, took the project on by themselves. They made it into far more than the village café. A house of different flavours, of craft beer when almost no one in the Interior was talking about it, of causes, of people. In 2025, after some difficult months, Helena reopened Cantinho on her own and reinvented it from top to bottom. This is the conversation we had with her.