Where the hills and sea melt

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This route allows you to get to know the Pequena lagoon (before the territory of the Park) and some of the most emblematic places of Arrábida Nature Park, such as Espichel Cape, Vila Nogueira de Azeitão, Luiz Saldanha Oceanographic Museum, Arrábida Convent, S. Luís, S. Francisco and Louro mountains, the beautiful beaches including Portinho da Arrábida, and, in the Sado Estuary Nature Reserve, Setúbal bay and Mourisca tidemill. In Setúbal, Palmela and Sesimbra municipalities, Arrábida Nature Park has a land area of 12,328 ha, with a maximum altitude of 501 m in Formosinho. It presents a great diversity of soils, due to the varied constitution of the rocky materials of the mother rock. Most of the soils are of sedimentary origin, with only some eruptive intrusions in the zone of Sesimbra. The coastline is rocky, cut by small bays with white sand beaches and cliffs that have considerable heights. It is essential for calcareous species (which like limestone) and plant communities on "rossa land". It is still one of the two known sites for Chaenorrhinum serpyllifolium subsp. lusitanicum (Lusitanian endemism). Cape Espichel is the only known place for Convolvus fernandesii (priority species, Lusitanian endemism and "endangered"). Arrábida Nature Park also has a marine area called "Professor Luís Saldanha Marine Park", with 5325 ha, where are identified more than 1000 species of marine fauna and flora.