Lavadouros de Belas

Very well maintained and still used!

Dry Sale Sinks Community laundry place The village known as Venda Seca, is located along the old royal road from Lisbon to Sintra passing through the village of Belas. The village topographically is a street village as a result of the houses developing along the artery that crosses the "town". The town has a set of old houses, scattered throughout the village. Leaving the "main" street, that is, the Estrada Nacional 250, we come across an interesting cluster and countless farms that once gave fame to Venda Seca. A land of "bairrista" people, jealous of their belonging to the place, cultivated a characteristic associative movement that the greatest exponent is the society "Recreios da Venda Seca" has a philharmonic band and a folkloric ranch. A few years ago the band was organizing a meeting where counterparts from all over the country of land acted, for example Redondo, in Alentejo. Venda Seca was famous in the saloia area of ​​Sintra and in Lisbon, as a place for parties and picnics. In a more remote period at the beginning of the 19th century, medicinal water would flow from here to the famous capital. In the 1818 newspaper "Gazeta de Lisboa", you can read "at the pharmacy of António Feliciano Alves de Azevedo, at Rocio nº 38, selling iron water from Venda Seca, which comes every day in a pint bottle at 100 réis each, and with a bottle at 160 réis "a pint is equivalent to 3.5 dcl. The water sprouted in the farm of the iron waters that still exists today, the source that, disappeared. In this village we find a grand centenary plane tree that grows next to the old fountain, on the 1st of May, and under which there is a comfortable bench where on sunny days, it is possible to enjoy the cool shade of the old tree. Anyway, despite the name, visit Dry Selling is not "dry" at all.