on the pampilhosa side, the boat is still there
Janeiro de Baixo sits on the right bank of the Zêzere, facing Janeiro de Cima on the other bank. Twin villages, once linked by the crossing boat: everything that passed between Pampilhosa and Fundão that way -- animals, people, goods -- made the short trip by water. Today a traditional boat is still moored on the river, as an evocation of that function.
In the village centre, another ethnographic piece: the tronco de ferrar, a wooden structure where oxen and horses were immobilised for shoeing, a memory of a rural economy still alive only a few decades ago. There's also the Igreja Matriz, dedicated to São Domingos, the parish house, and at the entrance to the village a mill carved into bedrock. The schist houses nestle into the curves of the land, on a rocky spur that forced the river to go around it.
The village was a commandery of the Order of Christ under the Royal Patronage, and in the 19th century, when the municipality of Fajão was dissolved, it was transferred to Pampilhosa da Serra. Life today centres on the river: the Praia Fluvial de Janeiro de Baixo has a large beach and the Accessible Beach classification, with assisted bathing on request and an amphibious wheelchair. Downstream, towards the Cambas exit, the Garganta do Zêzere opens up, in the Geopark Naturtejo. From here the river continues to Álvaro, and the choreography of the schist villages threads on downstream.
good to know
- the traditional boat and the tronco de ferrar are still at the riverbank
- the Igreja Matriz is dedicated to São Domingos; the mill carved in the rock is at the village entrance
- the river beach is classified as an Accessible Beach, with assisted bathing on request
- the Grande Rota do Zêzere (GR33) passes through the village
