Aldeia de S. Francisco

Today the parish of S. Francisco village is truly the centre of the extractive activity of the Panasqueira mines; a few hundred metres from the parish seat.

River

Wolfram

Barco e Coutada

Barco gets its name from a very old royal privilege that made the riverside villages of the Zêzere the right to have, and explore, the river crossing by ferryboat. Upstream, Coutada is a very close settlement where there is a continuity of settlement between both urban nuclei.

River

Wolfram

Barroca

At Barroca, the history of Schist has been written for millennia, its remote ancestors engraved magical geometric figures and animals on rocks on the shores of the Zêzere.

River

Schist

Bogas de Cima

The parish settlement is divided into a series of small villages, scattered between pine forests, where forest exploitation is one of the main activities of the parish.

Schist

Casegas e Ourondo

Casegas is one of the oldest villages of the ADERES parishes, with historical references that go back to the XII century. It belonged to the Order of the Templars, later the Order of Christ.

River

Schist

Cortes do Meio

Cortes de Meio is a parish of contrasts, that ever since it can be seen in the altimetry of its territory, with summits as low as 500m reaching over 1600m high.

Estrela

Wolfram

Erada

Despite Erada being at the foot of Estrela, it does not have a true highland aspect. The relief is rounded and the rocky outcrops are not common.

Estrela

Schist

Janeiro de Cima e Bogas de Baixo

Janeiro is the land of boatmen, boat builders and fishermen that simultaneously carved the stone, cultivated the meadows and looked after the pine forests.

River

Schist

Lavacolhos

In the shadow of Gardunha looking at Estrela, Lavacolhos is a very particular parish, interwinding and coexisting many elements and influences.

Schist

Paúl

The town of Paúl has a strong identity that comes from the traditional constructions, using pebbles connected by red clay which, even though they aren’t exclusive of this parish, there is in abundance.

Schist

Peso e Vales do Rio

Peso and Vales do Rio are unequivocally connected to the Zêzere, where it still has the characteristics of its Cova da Beira course, of slow flow with wide alluvium on both banks.

River

Wolfram

S. Jorge da Beira

The story of wolfram mining in Portugal began here, still at the end of the XIX century, through a simple coal miner from Casegas that found some black stones and took them to a fellow countryman with connections in Lisbon.

Schist

Wolfram

Silvares

The town is a very old settlement with historic references that date back to the Medieval Ages. The river, and several waterways that flow into it, creating alluvial deposits that enable the growth of vegetables, corn, potatoes and olive tees, often using terraces.

River

Wolfram

Sobral de S. Miguel

The name Sobral says it all. Its the land of the cork oak trees (here normally known as sobreiras), some of which around the village are of huge dimension. The vegetation cover of lower lands is potentially of cork oak and as understory, the Mediterranean scrublands, where the strawberry tree is ever-present.

Estrela

Schist

Unhais da Serra

The toponym is perhaps due to the fact that it is located at the foot or edge of Estrela, whose presence is characteristic of this parish, closely linked to the so-called wool rope of the Estrela mountain range.

Estrela