PR 2 FND - Janeiro de Cima Schist Walking Trail - Ahoy, the boat!

Track types

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Safety information

Beware of high temperatures in the summer and slippery terrain in the winter.

 

Emergency number: 112

SOS Forest fires: 117

GNR (police) Silvares: (+351) 275 662 453

ADXTUR - Schist Village Network - (+351) 275 647 700 | (+351) 960 101 873

Tips and hints

In Janeiro de Cima, Municipality of Fundão, one feels the strong complicity between the village and the Zêzere River. The course of the water designs soft curves that frame the rural landscape, surrounded by a dense vegetation of wild pine trees from where some hills and abrupt cliffs stand out.Be delighted by the horizon view observing the hilltop of St. Sebastian Shrine, and the quartzite outcrops of Santa Luzia dam, which integrate a large quartzite crest that crosses Portugal from northwest to southwest. A magic place you should not missed.The village rests on a perfect harmony between the river and the mountain.The proximity of the Zêzere River is one of the biggest attractions of Janeiro de Cima. A walk to the banks, through a bucolic countryside, leads you in to a large river park, a leisure area that is filled with people on warm days. We suggest a quiet walk not to scare the fauna. Rabbits, partridges, foxes, wild boars, and especially birds such as herons, eagles and other birds of prey witch guard the slopes of the River. The wild pine forest landscape reigns with diferent colours marked by the seasons with species such as arbutus, heather, rosemary, rock roses, and small herbaceous plants that render the spring more colourful. In autumn or in spring there is also a large variety of wild mushrooms. In communion with nature and its familiar background, Janeiro de Cima fills up with people at weekends and in the holidays. In the summer, there are picnics in the pinewoods or you can opt for the coolness of the water in the River Beach. The first village houses sprung up around the old church and from there spread out in a series of narrow, organic streets with a physiognomy of their own, connecting with other narrow streets and lanes, courtyards and alleyways, in a medieval structure of great patrimonial value. Of note is the unique technique for building houses, combining schist with the rolled pebbles from the river. In short, traditions are relived here in knowledge and arts that have never been forgotten and that are reborn at the hands of the present day. On the banks of the Zêzere, call out "Ahoy the boat!" to cross the river. This was how people in the old days were united and did business on both banks. This is still possible today on a trip up the river. In the House of the Weavers, you can hear the orchestra of linen looms in a symphony of coloured. On the walls, white rolled pebbles stand out from the brown schist. These are the visiting card of this village. In the late afternoon sunlight, this unique architecture made from river stones confers a unique reddish tint on the walls of the houses.

 

Gastronomy

- Maranhos

- Kid

- River Fishes

- Local desert

Note

Coordinates

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