Levadas da Gardunha, visita guiada

Guided walking tour from €12 per person

Our routes are also inclusive and tur4all

The Serra da Gardunha has a high level of biological diversity, bringing together characteristic elements from the north, center and south of the country that give this mountainous massif in Beira Interior its unique characteristics. In Gardunha (an Arabic word meaning "refuge"), granite and schist are present, and water is another constant. The landscape and biological diversity that this mountain range preserves is closely linked to the geomorphology and lithology, which have conditioned the occurrence of species (endemisms) and the use of the land by man, establishing a perfect harmony. The mountain's landscape reveals a strong component of human intervention in terms of agricultural areas, especially cherry groves and coniferous forest areas. However, there are still areas occupied by natural and semi-natural formations with a significant and valuable biological diversity. Protected Landscape that is part of the national list of Sites of Community Importance of the Natura 2000 Network.

It will start in Louriçal do Campo

1São Fiel College and its history

2 Tower Stop to view 60

3 Levadas of the River Ocreza

4 In the lower peripheral areas, where the streams have a greater flow, you'll find mills and watermills, while in the more inland and elevated areas of the Serra you'll find smaller but no less interesting equipment: the roller mills.

In their long history, the communities on the bangs of Gardunha have been able to make the best use of the mountain's natural resources for their almost always subsistence economy. In addition to its forest wealth, the most valuable resource has always been water, a basic necessity, which has also been used to irrigate agricultural land, conquered on the mountainside by force of arms in the steeper areas, and also as a source of motive power for the various mills that have sprung up along the water lines over the centuries.

A historical description of the origins of the College of São Fiel since its foundation by the Jesuit priests. The college became famous for the notable Brotéria, a journal of natural sciences. It was here that the famous António Egas Moniz studied; his discovery revolutionized medicine and neurosurgery, enabling the diagnosis of brain tumours and the diagnosis and treatment of cerebral aneurysms.