The best cycling routes around Arruda Dos Pisões

Salt is extracted from shallow, concrete or stone pans of varying sizes, where saltwater drawn from a well is conveyed through ditches. Currently, the water is pumped by a motor and distributed according to a system that is generally accepted and respected (not always) by all the owners. Drainpipes, threshing floors, and wooden salt storage houses complete the complex known as the Rio Maior Salt Pans. According to technicians, a large and deep rock salt mine, traversed by an underground stream that feeds a well, makes the extracted water salty, seven times saltier than seawater. The salt is obtained from its exposure to the sun and wind, and the resulting evaporation of the water. This salt is deposited at the bottom of the pans, which are then piled up in pyramid-shaped heaps to dry until harvest. The process is rudimentary and similar to that used in seaside salt mines. The only difference is the picturesque valley that surrounds them, the well, the unique style of the sailors (as the men who work in the salt mines are known), the wooden houses and the country air that you breathe.

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old railway

Just three kilometres from Rio Maior, on the southern tip of the Serra dos Candeeiros, lie the only inland salt pans in Portugal, and the only ones still active in the whole of Europe. Surrounded by vineyards and cultivated fields, they are a true wonder of nature, as the sea is 30 kilometres away. Their history dates back to at least 1177, but it is said that rock salt has been mined since prehistoric times. The water, seven times saltier than that of the ocean, emerges from a well after passing through an underground deposit, leaving behind the pure vestige of an ancient sea.

The place where the steam locomotive was supplied with water. The locomotive transported coal from the Rio Maior mine to the Vale de Santarém Railway Station, and then continued on to other destinations. The dock, which had a double track, was also used to unload, on exceptional occasions, other ordered goods.

The palace was built by the superintendent Diogo Inácio de Pina Manique (1733-1805), who held several positions during the time of the Marquis of Pombal. His connection to the town, which came to be called Manique do Intendente and was initially called Alcoentrinho, and which belonged to the Order of Christ, dates back to the time of his uncle, who established a manor in favor of his nephew in 1773. Thus began a very ambitious project, which envisaged the creation of a town with a rationalist architectural design and which included, in addition to the palace (whose construction remained unfinished), the Town Hall, the pillory, the Palace of Justice and the church. This plan did not go ahead due to Pina Manique's removal from the position of superintendent and his premature death.

The Rio Maior Branch Line is an old Portuguese railway branch line that connected the Espadanal Mines (Rio Maior) to the Santarém Valley (Northern Line)

Founded in the year 970 of the Christian era (which is why it is currently considered an ancient town), during the reign of the Moorish king D. Ramiro III, it was first given the name of al-quniTrâ”, a diminutive of “al-qanTarâ”, or Alcântara, which means – the small bridge. Alcoentre received its first charter from D. Afonso Henriques in the city of Coimbra, in October 1174, and became the oldest administrative unit and local district in the municipality of Azambuja. Since Alcoentre was registered by the Crown, it remained “land of the king” (or land of the king) until D. Dinis. During this reign, it ceased to be land of the king, also known as Lavrador, and began a long journey as land of private manorial jurisdiction. This charter was reformulated by D. Manuel in Lisbon, on 26 September 1513.