PARQUE NATURAL DA ARRÁBIDA
Natural park protected from real estate developers offering a delightful walk along the sea and its beaches.
The surroundings of Lisbon are full of surprises, and Serra da Arrábida is one of them. It is a real paradise on earth still protected from real estate developers (but for how long?). To get there from Lisbon, take the N10-4 to enjoy its Mediterranean flavour. The vegetation calls for this connection: wild olive trees, cypresses, myrtle trees, arbutus trees populate this limestone "mountain" which, from its 600 m, descends steeply into the turquoise blue waters of a sea which one wonders if it is really the Atlantic Ocean. The park has a land area of 10,821 ha and a marine area of 5,700 ha. There is this incredible place: Portinho da Arrábida, trapped between, at the very least, thirty metres from the cliff and the sea, inhabited by at most ten houses, cats and seagulls, a few boats and a few restaurants on the fine, white sandy beach. The water is a transparent blue.
As you leave, you cannot fail to admire the conventual complex of Arrábida, nestled on the hillside (founded in 1542 by the Franciscans), dotted with gatehouses built in the 17th century.
We will continue this delicious walk (but beware! a large number of areas are off-limits) by walking very close to the sea and its tiny beaches where sometimes one or two restaurants are installed: Praia de Gelapos or Praia da Figueirinha (a beautiful, quiet and wind-protected beach).
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Quant à Portinho da Arrabida, c'est un cul-de-sac où il faut absolument éviter de descendre le week-end ou lors des congés : il est impossible de s'y garer et on risque de rester coincé en bas car la route est en partie en voie unique avec circulation alternée, mais ce n'est pas toujours respecté !