BLUE MOUNTAINS - THE HISTORY AND SPIRIT OF A PEOPLE
"Overwhelming and dazzling world is that of the blue mountains that unfurl
wrapped in endless pine forests, under the gaze of whoever, on a late afternoon in the early autumn, climbs to the top of Bando dos Santos
the beginning of autumn, climb to the top of Bando dos Santos, or the Castro de S. Miguel in Amêndoa
Amêndoa, or the rugged cliffs of Penedo do Aivado.
Beaten by an extremely pure and cold wind, impregnated with a thousand wild perfumes,
the ridges surrounded by river waters are reflected in a translucent sky
of grey clouds, darkened by the setting sun, a sky whose violence of a raging sea
sea seems to exist only to give a dignified response to the greatness of that land.
The beauty of the places, their melancholy solitude, their remoteness from the great centres and
and the main roads, give the whole municipality a genuineness of character that is hard to find
difficult to find in the whole of Portugal".
It was in these terms that Maria Amélia Horta Pereira, the greatest historian of the municipality of
Mação, introduced the "geographical environment" of the municipality of Mação in 1970, in her
Monumentos Históricos do Concelho de Mação", page 15.
Today, almost 50 years later, the "endless pine forests" are burnt down and "the distance
from the main roads" is not so evident, but the top of the hills and the castros continue
the sky is still translucent, the clouds continue to be dazzled by the sun.
the setting sun, the authenticity remains, a thousand perfumes stubbornly inebriate
and soon the pine trees will once again make the "green horizon" resurface.
"GREEN HORIZON".
The municipality of Mação, belonging to the district of Santarém, in the former province of Beira
Baixa, in the Centre region and in the sub-region of the Middle Tejo, was inhabited in 1911 by
16,036 inhabitants and, in 2011, 7,338, distributed by about 400 kms2 involving six
six parishes and bordering with Proença-a-Nova, Vila Velha de Ródão, Nisa
Gavião, Abrantes, Sardoal, Vila de Rei and Sertã.
In its almost 400 km2, the territory has geographical, landscape, economic and cultural characteristics that are very distinctive,
landscape, economic and cultural features which make it multifaceted and difficult to
difficult to define. It has much of Beira Baixa in the North region, in the parishes of Amêndoa
Cardigos and Carvoeiro. It has something of the Alentejo in the Eastern region, in Envendos, S. José das
Matas and part of Mação. The Ribatejo influence is evident in the South, Ortiga, Penhascoso,
Aboboreira and part of Mação. The stratigraphic constitution of the soils, the morphology
hydrography, climate, flora and fauna, almost everything varies throughout the area.
Also the archaeological heritage extends through Time and spreads out in Space
It goes from Prehistory to contemporary times, passing through the Romans, Visigoths, Berbers
Berbers, medieval period, liberalism, invasions and wars ...
THROUGH THESE TERRITORIES WE WILL RECORD THE SPIRIT TRAILS OF THE
ROUTE OF MAÇÃO