This walk takes place in the fantastic Serra de Grândola, in an immense patch of forest where the cork oak is king, on a route in the middle of nature and in some parts along the Grândola stream. Another event not to be missed!

Grândola Mountains

At 326 metres at its highest point, the Grândola mountain range (which extends into the municipality of Santiago de Cacém) is one of the most important natural components of the Grândola area. Unlike most Portuguese mountains, which are oblique to the coast, Grândola is parallel to it, which makes it difficult for sea air to penetrate, although it does contribute to cloud condensation. Part of the Iberian Plateau, dating back to the Lower Carbonic period, it is essentially made up of schist, which in some places is foliated and in others has a harder, more compact consistency.

Its main watercourse - the Ribeira de Grândola or Davino River - with its wooded banks, runs through a valley with dissymmetrical slopes, the one on the right bank having a steeper slope. On the east side of the Santiago road, the relief is roughly the same and the main watercourse is the Castelhanos stream (a tributary of the Davino). It should be noted that both streams remain largely dry during the summer, with water only remaining in a few catchments.

Due to its characteristics, the soils of the Serra de Grândola are generally poor and unsuitable for agriculture, which has led its owners to take up tree farming. Today, most of it is covered in cork oaks, which produce some of the best cork in Portugal. Here and there, small patches of pine and eucalyptus can also be seen. In areas with less human intervention, spontaneous vegetation still prevails, consisting of sargasso, cistus, bearberry, bramble, strawberry trees, carrasqueiros, zambujeiros, gilbardeiros and other Mediterranean-type plants.

Chapel of Our Lady of Penha de França

This chapel is located in the Outeiro da Penha. On 15 May 1664, the Order of Santiago authorised the construction of this chapel, which must have happened in the following years. The chapel has a ground floor with a gable roof, a small bell tower with a bell, two front doors, a door and three windows on the west wall, two pointed buttresses at the rear and a door and two benches on the south-east wall. The interior consists of a nave, a chancel (with an altar), a sacristy and an annex. The lower part of the nave is decorated with 18th century blue and white tile panels depicting flowers, angels and fruit, while the chancel has more elaborate panels showing “aspects of the life of Our Lady”. The panel above the door to the sacristy has a frieze with the date 1721.

- Serra de Grândola - Grândola Stream - Chapel of Our Lady of Penha de França - Outeiro da Penha - Montinho da Ribeira Eco-park - Natural landscapes -