This hike takes place in the magnificent Serra de Montejunto, starting and finishing at the Royal Ice Factory Interpretation Centre, right in the heart of the mountains.

Real Ice Factory

Its construction began in 1741 and cost between 40 and 45 thousand cruzados, a megalomaniac expense for the time, in order to satisfy the great demand for ice that existed throughout the capital. It represented a major advance in the quality and hygiene of the process used to "produce" ice, since it was now made in the factory's tanks and not harvested after the wind had blown it into a heap, as had been the case until then.
The main purpose of its construction was to make up for the systematic shortages in supplies from the Serra do Coentral.
Almost everything we know about the work of the Royal Ice Factory is due to oral tradition, particularly the testimonies of descendants of people who worked in the ice-making industry.
The story goes that when September arrived, the shallow tanks were filled with water and during the night they waited for the cold to freeze it. When the ice formed, the factory guard rode on horseback to the village of Pragança and woke up the workers with a bugle. Before sunrise, in hard and arduous labour, the ice sheets were broken up, the fragments piled up and then loaded into the storage silos, where the ice was kept until summer arrived.
During the hot season, the complicated task of transporting the ice to the kingdom's capital took place. First, the ice was transported on the backs of animals to overcome the steep slopes of the mountains. It was then transported by cart to the "snow boats" anchored in the Carregado Ditch. These boats completed the ice circuit, transporting it to Lisbon, the capital of the kingdom.
It is estimated that the Royal Ice Factory ceased operating at the end of the 19th century and fell into oblivion for almost a century.
The Royal Ice Factory complex has been considered by numerous international experts "as a unique case due to the originality of its structures and the reasonable state of conservation".

Pragança Hillfort

Located above the village of Pragança, in the parish of Lamas. Discovered in 1893, it has been the subject of study by Portuguese and foreign archaeologists who have contributed to our knowledge of the specific nature of its occupation, which spans the late Neolithic period, the Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages and the Roman era, when its occupation ceased.

- Royal Ice Factory Interpretation Centre - Royal Ice Factory National Monument - Calçada dos Frades - Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows - Dominican Convent - Mills - Pragança Hillfort - Castanheiros Picnic Park - 360º view around Montejunto -