Tagus Route

From the Tagus we set sail one day, to the sea and out to the world. Today, ships arrive at the Port of Lisbon coming from all over. This river bed has been fundamental to the local and national economy since forever.

Bathers and washerwomen were frequent sights in its clear waters. Amongst its currents fishermen lived, farmers settled and discoverers set sail on boats made in Portuguese shipyards.

By transforming the lives of those living along its banks, the river's dynamics have sustained the cultural, symbolic, spiritual and affective dimensions of the Portuguese people.

Historically, the river’s avieiro fishermen keep on resisting the destruction its fish wealth. Its mills, such as tide mills or the Alburrica windmills, preserve the memory of a long and intense relationship between the river and its surrounding agricultural activity. Today, the extinct Portuguese Fishing Company has given place to the Almada Naval Museum, which pays homage to the old shipbuilding industry that once led Lisbon’s shipyards to be reputed as the best in the world. Las but not least, some of the most amazing works of architecture in the history of Portugal, including the Tower of Belém, the Monument to the Discoveries and the Jerónimos Monastery, eternally rest on its banks.

A river made of a symbiosis between past and future, surrenders its beautiful and serene riverfront to stunning views from contemporary buildings, including the Neo-Realism Museum, the Factory of Words, Casa da Cerca, the Lisbon Cruise Terminal and the Manuel Cargaleiro Art Workshop, an architectural project by Siza Vieira. Particularly privileged views can also be enjoyed from old treasures such as St. George’s Castle, the Triumphal Arch of Rua Augusta, Ribeira das Naus and Cristo Rei.

Today little remains of the Tagus’ frenetic activity, but the cities, legends, poets and paths to a new world that were born from its banks, now acquire new meaning as places of conviviality and leisure.

The Tagus is one of the most extensive rivers in the Iberian Peninsula and the largest within Portuguese territory, with its course travelling a total of approximately 1100 kilometres. Rising in Spain, the river enters Portugal and bathes settlements such as Abrantes, Constância, Santarém, Vila Franca de Xira and Lisbon, the last city at its mercy before it runs into the Atlantic.

Its estuary is a protected area within a natural reserve and spreads over approximately 15 hectares. A privileged location to observe fish, molluscs, crustaceans and more than 120,000 aquatic birds of approximately 200 species. These include purple herons, flamingos and ducks, which pass through when migrating from northern Europe to Africa.

Wetlands, mudflats, salt marshes, farmland, sand beds, reed beds, salt pans and islets, compose the scenery and provide shelter for an extremely rich fauna, such as the Mouchão de Alhandra river islet, estuary sites Sítio das Hortas and Ribeira das Enguias, the Alverca and Forte da Casa Salt Pans, the Samouco Salt Pans, the Ponta da Erva marshlands, the Loures floodplains, the Mar da Palha river basin and Parque Tejo. The town of Alcochete is the most well known location within this protected area.

Many bird watching locations can be found along the banks of the Tagus Estuary Natural Reserve, as well as nature interpretation centres, where exhibitions, workshops, walking trails, observatories, photography hides and other observation points can be enjoyed. A trip to EVOA, in Vila Franca de Xira, or Sítio das Marinhas, in Moita, allows visitors to observe a substantial amount of bird species along the riparian area, many of which are protected by EU directives.

Environmental qualification has been the main goal of the Tagus riverbank valorisation and conservation project, as these areas provide an excellent habitat for the estuary’s aquatic avifauna. A safe haven for feeding, breeding and nesting.

However, the return to the River Tagus and its consequent valorisation are also a result of recreational programmes implemented along its course. Ponta dos Corvos, in the county of Seixal, is the Tagus estuary’s first classified river beach and a privileged spot for wind and kitesurfing. Sailing from Moita, varino riverboat “O Boa Viagem” sets off on tours that recreate a distant but unforgotten past. Along the course of the River Tagus, regattas start, sailors and canoeists make way, and traditional boats navigate waters that one day witnessed ships and caravels set sail for the Portuguese maritime adventures.