The best running trails around Vila Cã

The Santiago da Guarda Monumental Complex is an unmissable stop, where history unfolds in layers. Classified as a National Monument, it stands out for its Manueline elegance, its 14th-century manor tower, and the impressive Roman mosaics that reveal an ancient villa from the 4th and 5th centuries. The old road between Tomar and Coimbra passed through here, later used by pilgrims on their way to Santiago. Surrounded by the limestone landscape and oak groves of the Serra de Sicó, the place invites you to slow down and take a deep breath. Take the opportunity to chat with the hospitable people.

In the hills of the Serra de Sicó, the windmills of Outeiro dot the landscape like echoes of a time when homemade bread sustained local life. Rotating, made of wood and set in stone circles, they turned with the wind, an invention of Afghan origin. Reconstructed to preserve the memory, today they also offer a privileged viewpoint over valleys and mountains.

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Star is sheltered by an impressive grotto, which rises like a stone mantle over the temple. Once a simple cavity, it grew until it took on its current form. Inside, a staircase leads to the deepest grotto. And, at the top, a small viewpoint guards the image of Our Lady of the Star facing the sea, recalling the legend that says she guided a fisherman back home.

The Poio Valley stands as a well-kept secret of the mountains, preserved for centuries by its rugged, steep, wild, and inaccessible geography. Only shepherds and adventurers used to know these paths. Perhaps that is why a rare fauna found refuge here. It is one of the largest fluviokarstic canyons in Portugal, a valley patiently sculpted by water, which left monumental slopes and a breathtaking landscape. To the south lies Poio Velho; to the north, the more famous Poio Novo, two chapters of the same magnificent landscape.

Pombal Castle dominates the landscape and the very history of the city. Built between 1156 and 1171 by the Knights Templar, it formed part of the old Mondego defensive ring, a series of fortresses that protected access to Coimbra after the Reconquista. Over the centuries it suffered attacks, including those from Napoleonic troops, and fell into ruin. Today, the castle has once again become a vibrant and accessible space, a privileged viewpoint and an essential landmark of Pombal's identity.

Pombal Castle, one of the most important Templar monuments in central Portugal: It stands atop a rocky outcrop beside the Arunca River, overlooking the city of Pombal. Built between 1156 and 1171 by Gualdim Pais, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, on the site of an ancient Roman fort and Arab fortress. It formed part of the Templar defensive line to protect Coimbra and launch offensives against the Muslims.

Although the precise date of the castle's construction is unknown, it is believed to have been during the Christian Reconquista in the 12th century, during the reign of King Afonso Henriques (1112-1185), and sometime between 1159, the date of the Redinha Charter—according to an epigraphic inscription of that date in Almourol—which mentions the construction of a series of castles, including Pombal Castle, by Gualdim Pais (son of Paio Ramires), then Master of the Knights Templar in Portugal. Pombal Castle indeed follows the same architectural lines characteristic of the Templars, present not only in Almourol but also in those of Idanha, Monsanto, Tomar, and Zêzere, its contemporaries. The function of this complex was to provide defense and settlement for these lands, south of the Mondego River, entrusted to the Order. Gualdim Pais himself granted a charter to Pombal in 1174, a town that developed on the southern slope of the castle hill. source: Wikipedia

It's magnificent, I don't know it, but it really makes you want to visit.