Located in the Center of Portugal, Bussaco Mountain Range covers, in one of its hills, the Desert of the Discalced Carmelites of Bussaco, with its Forest/Mata. This place was, whether during the stay of its monks or after the space was opened to lay visitors (1834), a sacred territory that attracted religious and lay travelers.
Located at the foot of this hill, the town of Luso, known for centuries for its mineral water, was during the 19th and until the mid-20th century, an important spa resort, sought after by the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the intellectuals, Portuguese and foreigners. Given the emergence of sun and beach tourism, Termas de Luso suffered from the late 1980s onwards, causing the Bussaco Forest to be forgotten, with all its natural and heritage wonders. Despite a resurgence of the Termas, in 2010, Luso-Bussaco once again felt with the effects of COVID-19.
In 2020, the Mata do Bussaco Foundation launched the “Grande Bussaco Route, meeting in the Forest”, as a way to promote the territory. However Literature, as a heritage promoting cultural tourism, is not referred on this Route. With this exploratory study, we want to present many of the travelers, national and foreign, and their literary works, which refer to this territory. We believe that the contents of these works may favor the development of cultural-tourist trails in it, in a natural environment, where we will also can evoke forms of art such as painting or the cinema, thus attracting not only those who take the medicinal water and made other spa activities, but also other kind of tourists.
This paper is financed by National Funds provided by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology through project ref. UIDB/04470/2020 CiTUR.
Keywords: Luso-Bussaco|Paths|Literature|Culture
A103836IL