"Fountain of Lovers" Still Flowing in Oliveira do Hospital, Portugal

"The fountain water is crazy. Look what it is saying -- that it kissed your mouth when you went there to drink," wrote José Garcês, in História de Oliveira do Hospital: Povo Valoroso, Passado Heróico (2001).

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At the end of the 19th century, numerous alder trees, probably some as tall as 25 meters (82 feet), created a shaded tryst of bliss around what was popularly known as the Fonte dos Amores (Fountain of Lovers) in Oliveira do Hospital, Coimbra District.

In 1895, during a visit by the royal family, King Carlos (1889-1908) inaugurated the monument as the Ameal Fountain, in deference to the alders (amieiros), which later would be felled for construction of the National Road 230.

Located at one of the entrances to Oliveira do Hospital, near the Rotunda do Cavaleiro (Knight's Roundabout), "a pleasant place for romantic encounters" is how the fountain was described in the 21st century by José Garcês, in História de Oliveira do Hospital: Povo Valoroso, Passado Heróico (2001).

In the 1950s, the Ameal spring also served a business interest.

Armindo Lousada, considered one of the driving forces of industry in Oliveira do Hospital, founded a company called Sociedade de Productos Amial, Lda., owner of the now-defunct Laranjada Amial, in the 1950s, according to a Geocaching blogger, who identifies himself as a male teacher in Oliveira do Hospital.

Composition of the laranjada (orangeade) included 50 percent water. This water was transported by women, with jugs on their heads, from the Ameal spring to the Laranjada Amial factory, a building now occupied by a commercial space. At that time, some of the roads, including the one which currently connects the spring to the factory building, did not exist, making water transport even more of a challenge.

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