Serra da Estrela (, ) is the highest

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in Continental Portugal. Together with the Serra da Lousã it is the westernmost constituent range of the

Sistema Central The Central System, Spanish language, Spanish and , is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. The 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit. The Central System is located just north of the 40th parallel north, ...

and also one of the highest in the system. It includes mainland Portugal's highest point at above mean sea level (although the summit of

Mount Pico Mount Pico () is a currently dormant stratovolcano located on Pico Island, in the mid-Atlantic archipelago of the Azores. It is the highest mountain in Portugal, at above sea level, and is one of the highest Atlantic mountains; it is more than ...

in the Portuguese

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

islands is higher). This point is not a distinctive mountain summit, but rather the highest point in a plateau, being known as Torre ("Tower" in English). Torre is an unusual summit in that it is accessible by a paved road. The peak has a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of and its parent peak is Pico Almanzor, in Spain. The mountain range, situated between the municipalities of Seia, Manteigas, Gouveia, Guarda and

Covilhã Covilhã (), officially Covilhã City (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, Centro region, Portugal. The city proper had 33,691 inhabitants in 2021. The municipality population in 2021 was 46,455 in an area of . It is ...

, is about long and is across at its widest point. It is formed from a huge

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

ridge that once formed the southern frontier of the country.

Rivers

There are three rivers that have their headwaters in the Serra da Estrela: the Mondego, which is the longest river entirely within Portuguese territory; and the Zêzere, which is a tributary of the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

; a tributary of the Mondego, the Alva also has its headwaters in the range. It is high.

Nature park

The mountain range is now part of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park and offers

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

opportunities in the

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area–a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North Am ...

of Loriga, Seia Municipality.

Serra da Estrela dog

The Cão da Serra da Estrela (''Estrela Mountain Dog'') is a breed of livestock guardian dog that takes its name from this region.

Serra da Estrela sheep and cheese

'' Queijo Serra da Estrela'' (Serra da Estrela cheese) is a soft

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

from the region of Serra da Estrela. The recipe is more than 2000 years old. It is made from cardoon thistle, raw sheep's milk and salt. The cheese is soft and gooey. The cheese becomes harder and chewier as time goes by. The region's ancient ''bordaleira'' sheep are also prized for their wool.

Cuisine

The region's cuisine is well-regarded and includes dishes such as breaded sweet

sardine Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it com ...

s and Juniper beef stew. Smoked meat (fumeiro) and traditional sausages (enchidos) are in abundance, the nettle sausage (alheira de urtiga) among them. Though the region has a very small local Jewish population, it has emerged as a center for Kosher food, with local producers launching kosher versions of their

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and cheesemakers obtaining kosher certification for some products.

Conchos dam

The Serra da Estrela is also home to a hydroelectric system of dams, part of which is the Covão dos Conchos. The Covão dos Conchos looks like a natural sinkhole within the lake at first glance, but it was constructed as a

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

in 1955 and acts as a water diversion from Ribeira das Naves to Lagoa Comprida.

History, legends and myths

A legend associated with the mountain is mentioned in chapter 41 of the American literary classic,

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...

: :''"... the prodigies related in old times of the inland Strello mountain in Portugal (near whose top there was said to be a lake in which the wrecks of ships floated up to the surface)..."'' Archaeological investigations have allowed a picture of life during the fifth millennium BC, the

Early Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wi ...

to emerge, where small communities sustained themselves by small game hunting, the gathering of acorn and other winter fruits, and migratory pastoralism. The raising of sheep and goats, introduced to the region by the first Neolithic settlers - suggests that spring and summer were spent on high ground pastures and winter on the lower grounds of the river valleys. The significance of the Serra da Estrela in Neolithic culture can be seen in the discovery that

megaliths A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging ...

in the

Mondego River The Rio Mondego () or Mondego River is the longest river entirely within Portugal, Portuguese territory. It has its source in Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in Continental Portugal, mainland Portugal (i.e. excluding the Portuguese ...

basin were predominantly built with an alignment that allowed the mountain range to be seen from within the inner chamber. At the same time the rise of

Aldebaran Aldebaran () is a star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It has the Bayer designation α Tauri, which is Latinized to Alpha Tauri and abbreviated Alpha Tau or α Tau. Aldebaran varies in brightness from an apparent vis ...

, the brightest star of Taurus, behind the mountains could also be seen and its

Heliacal rising The heliacal rising ( ) of a star or a planet occurs annually when it becomes visible above the eastern horizon at dawn just before sunrise (thus becoming "the Morning Star (disambiguation)#Astronomy, morning star"). A heliacal rising marks the ti ...

in late April/early May could have been used as a temporal marker for the movement to the high pastures of Serra da Estrela. This archaeological narrative closely mirrors the local folklore that explains the name of the mountain range.

References

External links

Serra da Estrela´s Dog
Article by Cátia Pinheiro in Accessible Travel Magazine, January 2007
The ultimate stargazing road trip on BBC
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