Full article about Alviela Spring to Olive Presses: Malhou, Louriceira, Espinhe
Follow the 14 °C river from its cavern to laurel-scented presses and a 17-arch aqueduct beach.
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Five cubic metres of water a second ripple out of the Alviela spring at a steady 14 °C, winter or summer. From Malhou, the EM595 wriggles east for five minutes to a tarmac apron; an 800-metre boardwalk then threads the cliff to the cavern where the river begins. Take a fleece – the gorge shade knocks six degrees off the valley thermometer.
Three parishes, three accents
Malhou – first mentioned in a 1593 royal charter – still shows the smithy chimney beside the parish church; the last farrier locked up in 1987.
Louriceira smells of laurel hedges and new-pressed oil; the co-op weighbridge pays €0.45 kg⁻¹ for olives every October–December.
Espinheiro’s tiny chapel of the apparition unlocks only on Sunday mornings; the once-credited miraculous spigot dried in 1976 and is now an ordinary tap.
The Arcada aqueduct
Seventeen limestone arches stack 55 m above the valley floor, a fragment of Lisbon’s 19th-century Águas Livres system. Park at 39.482, –8.593, walk the farm track for ten minutes, and you reach plunge pools 4 m deep where locals improvise a summer beach – no lifeguard, no loos, just stone steps in and out.
What to eat
Tasca O Cardoso, Malhou – Wednesday-only lamb stew, €9, served 12.30-15.00 or until the pot is scraped clean.
Adega da Louriceira – bring your own bottle for DOP olive oil at €5 a litre; they don’t do packaging.
Pêra Rocha – knock on garden gates mid-August; €1 kg for fruit still warm from the tree.
Walking without signal
Olhos de Água loop – 6 km, way-marked yellow-grey, 1 h 45 min. Starts at the campsite, brushes the spring, returns along the irrigation levada. No fountains en route; download the GPX: the spring at 39.489, –8.588 and the Roman bridge at 39.485, –8.580 are the only places you’ll manage one bar.
Where to sleep
Rural campsite – €6 a pitch, hot showers, April-October, ring Sr. Augusto on 916 345 789.
Casa da Levada – self-catering cottage, €70 per night, two-night minimum, firewood included. GPS 39.480, –8.600.
Last supplies
Fuel: Intermarché, Alcanena, 8 km. Pharmacy rota: dial 116.