Towering over Lisbon‘s southern coastline, the great limestone ridge of the Serra da Arrábida, 40 km south of the city and clearly visible from its higher points, is home to some of the world’s oldest living examples of Mediterranean vegetation.
Set on a curving turquoise bay just 40 km south of Lisbon, Sesimbra is both an attractive fishing town and popular tourist resort within easy reach of the capital.
Devastated by a succession of earthquakes over the centuries, Setúbal is rich in relics of the past and nowadays is one of the busiest ports on Lisbon‘s southern shoreline.
The great suspension bridge over the River Tagus opens the route to the scenic wonders of Lisbon’s southern shoreline, but the attractions are by no means confined to the coast.
It’s extremely rare to catch sight of a large pod of bottlenose dolphins in European waters, but happily a family of three dozen or so are a regular attraction in the Sado Estuary south of Lisbon.
In 1830, when Gaspar Henriques de Paiva left his home in Monsanto, central Portugal, for the village of Azeitão in the Arrábida mountains close to Lisbon, he took with him the winning formula for one of Portugal’s best cheeses.