ALVÃO MOUNTAIN NATURAL PARK

Offers an unusual setting for those who want to explore it intimately. Known for its villages of great architectural value, as Lamas de Olo and Arnal, it also presents geomorphological and scenic aspects of great value, such as the waterfalls of the Fisgas do Ermelo and Galegos da Serra. Created in 1983, this Nature Park covers about 7200 ha of mountainous area. It has an interesting floristic biodiversity, including rare or endemic species like the Paradisea lusitanica, the Mountain Arnica (Arnica montana subsp. atlantica) or the Teucrium salviastrum. Its forest cover consists of groves of oaks, birches and chestnut trees, which house other important botanical elements such as Holly and Hawthorn. In this mountain there are also small flowers, such as Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix), Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) and Merendera montana, which color the green mantle of the highland meadows.

The fauna highlights goes for the Iberian Wolf (Canis lupus signatus), the Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus), the Pyrenean Desman (Galemys pyrenaicus), the Dipper (Cinclus cinclus), the Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), the Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis), the Schreiber’s Green Lizard (Lacerta schreiberi), the Iberian Frog (Rana iberica) and the Alcon Blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). With the autumn, the landscapes of the Serra do Alvão are filled with warm colors and in winter it is covered by a white mantle, providing magnificent images of this mountainous zone.