The Ul Mill Park, in Oliveira de Azeméis, consists of a large park, crossed by the river Ul, made up of four wonderful molinological nuclei.
To get to know them, we recommend taking the so-called miller's route, a short trail that joins all the nuclei together. This small route, which starts at the main nucleus, the Ponta da Igreja Mill Nucleus, is circular and about 4km long.
You can consult the flyer with directions on the City Council's website (here.).
The Ponta church Mill Nucleus is the main area of this Molinological Park, where you'll find several picnic tables, a café, the Interpretive Center and mills that produce bread, bread with chorizo, 'rosca', among others. Although this is are absolutely delicious products, if you go with the idea of buying it, bear in mind that it usually sells out very quickly. We only managed to buy bread and 'rosca' on one of our visits to the park.
the miller's route, 4km long, is a circular route that reproduces the old path taken by the millers
As well as enjoying the calm of this park, we recommend, as you might expect, taking the miller's route and visiting the other mills. As the name suggests, this route follows the old path taken by the millers. This route has recently undergone a slight change, where it used to pass by the Mother Church and now deviates from it and avoids the urban areas - we were lucky enough to do both versions and we can say that this change has brought us into greater and better contact with the River Ul.
We chose to start the trail from the path behind the café, following the dirt road, sometimes on stone. In this first part of the trail there are some slight climbs, but they are easily done. This is also the part of the trail with the most shade.
From here it's only a short distance to the second nucleus: the Moinhos de Azevinheira Nucleus, where there are mills currently used for husking rice.
You can take advantage of the visit to taste the famous 'rosca' / 'regueifa' of Ul, produced on site
Next to these mills there is a small wall linking them: although it doesn't look like it, you can make your way over it, requiring moderate physical dexterity.
The path continues until it crosses an old bridge (Two Rivers Bridge) over the River Ul, where we then find the nucleus of the two rivers' mills. From here, the path moves away from the river until it reaches the Castro Nucleus, where there is little shade.
Following the trail that surrounds this third nucleus, we head uphill towards the church, but before we get there, there is a cut to the left where we have to follow. Once again, we continue along the opposite bank of the river, observing the previously seen nuclei, this time from the opposite bank.
This part of the path, which is more direct, takes us back to the main core, passing over the access bridge, from where we have a beautiful view of the main area.
In addition, you can choose to visit the Castro de Ul, about 500 meters from the park, in the direction of the church. This consists of vestiges of an ancient Roman occupation. Please note that, depending on recent activities, the site may be covered in vegetation.
English 
Português