This proposed hike will allow us to get to know a whole area that is still very rural, from where we will see excellent, unobstructed panoramic views, especially of the Serra de Sintra. Another event not to be missed!

Covas de Ferro

Its roots and foundation are unknown, but popular wisdom has it that its name is most probably associated with the extraction of iron ore. On the Serra da Carva plateau, there are still traces of this activity from times gone by. Here, a single geographical landmark administratively divides the municipality of Sintra from those of Loures and Mafra.

Poor, unfertile soil, unlike other neighbouring villages, which are eminently agricultural. It's mountainous, and the soil only sprouts heather and carqueja. That's why it's no wonder that strong arms left here from sun up to sun down, digging, ploughing, turning over and mowing the fields of the farmers of the neighbouring Casais. From here, for years on end, wagons, galleys and vans left, laden with firewood, the fuel that for decades fuelled the capital's fireplaces. Bundles of washed clothes, cared for and perfumed in the heather and myrtle of the mountains, left here every day, heading for the parishes of Lisbon. This was an important activity for the domestic economy of our grandmothers, and it spread throughout the Saloia region and was even the subject of a classic Portuguese film from the 1930s.

In the last quarter of the 19th century and until the 1930s and 40s, Covas de Ferro was also a natural sanatorium for many city dwellers suffering from tuberculosis. The purity of the air from the Serra de Monfirre, still of very reasonable quality today, brought condemned patients not only from Lisbon but also from many other places in search of the cure they craved. And there were success stories, miraculous cures with just this air, so the news travelled fast. For a few measly pennies, the locals, unaware of any possible contagion, would host the sick in their homes, renting out their bedrooms, serving them food and all the care they needed. At weekends, the population doubled, tripled.

- Covas de Ferro - “Subida do Inferno” trail - Natural viewpoints - Serra de Monfirre - Serra da Carva - Belavista trail - Natural landscapes -