The Rio Balsemão (

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

: Balsemão River) is a small stream that originates in the mountain range of Serra de Montemuro. It passes through narrow canyons before it reaches the major city

Lamego Lamego (; cel-x-proto, Lamecum) is a city and municipality in the Viseu District, in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of the Douro Subregion, Douro in northern Portugal. Located on the shores of the Balsemão River, the municipality has a ...

.MONTEIRO-HENRIQUES, Tiago, COSTA, José Carlos, BELLU, Annalisa, and AGUIAR, Carlos
"Fraxino angustifoliae-Ulmetum glabrae: An Original Endemic and Extremely Localized Forest from Mainland Portugal"
''Centenaire de la Phytosociologie'', Vol. 46, pp. 323-327, 2010. Retrieved on 5 February 2014. Part of the

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

basin, its entire path is made in the old

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 100,000 inhabitants, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunipical community, with 267,633 inhabita ...

. Born near Rossão, Gosende, in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Castro Daire Castro Daire () is a municipality in Viseu District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 15,339, in an area of 379.04 km2. The present mayor is Paulo Almeida , elected by a coalition CDS-PP, PSD. The municipal holiday is June 29 (St Peter' ...

, it still draws, for short while, the frontier with neighbors Resende and Lamego before heading on through this last municipality, towards the

Douro Valley The Comunidade Intermunicipal do Douro () is an administrative division in Portugal. It replaced the ''Comunidade Urbana do Douro'', created in 2004. It takes its name from the Douro River. The seat of the intermunicipal community is Vila Real. D ...

. The Balsemão River has a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

near Pretarouca, Lamego. Nearby Magueija, in a small canyon of Balsemão was detected an extremely localized forest dominated by Elm (''

Ulmus glabra ''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches i ...

'') and Narrow-leafed Ash (''

Fraxinus angustifolia ''Fraxinus angustifolia'', the narrow-leaved ash, is a species of ''Fraxinus'' native to central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia.Flora Europaea''Fraxinus angustifolia''/ref>Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and E ...

''). Along with

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s, its possible to find in the margins of the Balsemão River the so-called “leiras” (narrow green stretches of cultivated land).PINA, Helen
"The Importance of Complementarity in the Territorial Cohesion and Sustainability of Rural Areas: The Case of Cambres, a Douro Winegrowing Area, and Magueija, a Mountainous Area"
''Revija za geografijo - Journal for Geography'', 5-2, 2010, 27-42. Retrieved on 14 February 2014. Near the end of its course, on the right bank, it's possible to find the Chapel of São Pedro de Balsemão, a former

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

sanctuary dating back to the 7th century and now a

National monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

. Eventually it ends in a

storage reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

made by the Varosa Dam in the Varosa River.REIS, Amélia, PATINHA, Carla, DIAS, Ana, CACHADA, Anabela, PATO, Pedro, FERREIRA DA SILVA, Eduardo, FONSECA, Rita, BARRIGA, Fernando, and JANEIRO, Ana
"Grapevine Cultivation and the Geochemistry of Zinc: Impact on the Environmental Equilibrium of a Vulnerable Site within the Alto Douro Wine Region" link 1link 2
''2013 Conference of the International Medical Geology Association (25–29 August 2013)'', Session No. 50, 29 August 2013. The Geological Society of America. Retrieved on 8 February 2014. The Varosa, in turn, will meet the Douro River near

Peso da Régua :''Regua leads here. For American major general, see Eldon Regua'' Peso da Régua (), commonly known as Régua, is a municipality in northern Portugal, in the district of Vila Real. The population in 2011 was 17,131 (of which approximately 10,000 a ...

. This river has a "Friends of the Balsemão River Association" (Associação de Amigos do Rio Balsemão - ASAMIRB).

References

External links

"Contrasting impact of small dams on the macroinvertebrates of two Iberian mountain rivers"
Rui Manuel Vitor Cortes, Maria Teresa Ferreira, Simone Varandas Oliveira & Francisco Godinho (1998) {{DEFAULTSORT:Balsemao River Rivers of Portugal Douro basin

See also

References

External links