Located on the left bank of the Douro river, near the confluence of the Paiva river with the Douro river, the Escamarão pier is housed in a particularly strategic place that, over time, was stopping place for many boats sailing in the Douro river. Once, docked here rabelo boats, known for the transportation of Port wine, and they were prepared to navigate in shallow waters, as it was the case of the Douro river, having the boats no keel and a flat bottom. In addition to the Port wine, these vessels also carried various goods along the Douro. This site also represented an important link to the other side margin, for Bitetos pier. Goods transported were diverse, and even cars were taken by rabelo boats to the right bank of the river.
Escamarão pier, docked at the mouth of Paiva, we can appreciate diverse fauna and flora, as skittish the otter swimming the banks of the Douro and Paiva. Also the majestic old world swallowtail butterfly, one of the largest butterflies in Portugal, flies around here. The beautiful largered damselfly is one of many invertebrates along the Douro that can be seen. The avifauna is diverse, and here we can see the eccentric hoopoe, the greenfinch or some birds of prey like the common buzzard or the barn owl. The flora is also varied, with strong influence of the Atlantic Ocean, and here we can see the primrose, alder buckthorn or the lote tree, among many other plants.
In Escamarão we can find the Romanesque church of Nossa Senhora da Natividade (Our Lady of the Nativity). Built in the late fourteenth century, this church belonged to land reserve of Vila Meã under the Alpendurada monastery rules, and had a great strategic importance because of its location, with easy connection to either the city of Oporto, or the interior Douro.
