Ródão Castle and chapel - viewpoint and birdwatching

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Great place to see the Griffon (Gyps fulvus) colony and also some Black Stork (Ciconia nigra). Great views of Portas de Ródão and Tagus river (downstream and upstream). See also the the Mediterranen vegetation with Prickly Juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus), Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo), Viburnum tinus...

On the opposite riverbank there’s a gray area due to the gravel accumulation, resulting probably from an ancient Roman exploitation of gold in Conhal. 

The Chapel of the Lady of the Castle, whose origins are probably pagan, has a legend related to it, saying a group of river fishermen was saved by Our Lady, so. In gratitude, they re built a chapel. Unfortunately, i tis closed because there were several robberies, including the golden-carved altar.

Later, near the viewpoint, a watch-tower, known as castle, was probably built in twelfth-thirteenth centuries, by the Temple Order, is located on the northeast side of an irregular oval enclosure, which is very nearly destroyed. Near the border with Spain and dominating the Tagus river which was a transportation and communication way between Lisbon and Ródão, and to several cities in Spain in certain periods, this fortification was certainly important, being restored in modern and contemporary times, in particular during the period of the French invasions, but the whole history of the fort and its surrounding system remains unsolved.

Several legends are associated with this tower, the best known being the King Wamba or Ródão Curse, which, however, is denied by the archaeological remains. Speaks of the adulterous love between a Christian queen (sometimes identified as Wamba king's wife, as other princess Urraca), who lived in Ródão Castle, and a Moorish king resident across the river in Castelinhos da Senhora da Graça, the north of Nisa. In the absence of the Christian king, they sat on stone chairs, in both sides of the doors, dating, until the Moorish king decided to kidnap the Christian, digging a tunnel, under the river starting in the hole Faíopa (old mine on the Western side of S. Miguel hills) but the alleged tunnel ended in the south hill of Portas de Ródão, where is Buraca da Moura (Moorish hole). The Moor eventually fled with the loved one that crossed the river on a web of linen; however the King Wamba captured his wife, who was sentenced to death by being thrown down the cliff attached to a millstone. In the fall, the queen laid a curse on Ródão and everywhere she passed on the way down, no more vegetation grew there.