The river beach of Quinta do Barco is located on the left bank of the Vouga, at the Paradela do Vouga parish, right to the bridge crossing to the parish of Pessegueiro do Vouga. It is a well-equipped beach, to practice radical sports, with shower facilities and playground. It is a place of great beauty, ideal to spend a day in communion with nature. The water surface is provided by the dam of Grela, work aimed at hydroelectric utilization of the Vouga waters. This dam also marks the beginning of the Natura network site of the river Vouga, which spans over 2769 hectares until Segadães village already in Águeda municipality.
The Site of Community Importance (SCI) of the Vouga river had its origin intended to protect migratory fish protected in Europe, such as allis shad, the twait shad, the sea lamprey and eel. To this impressive list of protected species, also joins the river lamprey, the ruivaco, the iberian chub, the portuguese nase and the barbel. These waters can still find the thick shelled river mussel, the river cruisers dragonfly and the orange-spotted emerald dragonfly. The otter finds here abundant food and there are frequent indications of her presence, while the lesser purple emperor butterfly was observed here several times, forming one of its most important populations known in Portugal. The common kingfisher, with its vivid colors, is easily seen in his constant fisheries along the Vouga.
The chata or bateira of the Vouga river is a lanceolate flat bottom vessel with low edges. It serves today as a support fishing vessel but was formerly one of the ways most commonly used to transport people and goods between the two banks of the Vouga river.
