Saturday, 7 November 2020

ARCOS DE VALDEVEZ (PORTUGAL)

 ARCOS DE VALDEVEZ

N 41.846133; W 8.417955

Arcos de Valdevez is a municipality along the northern frontier of Portugal and Galicia (Spain). The population in 2011 was 22,847, in an area of 447.60 km². It is the largest municipality in area of the district of Viana do Castelo.
Arcos de Valdevez is situated in the northwest Portuguese peninsula of the historical province of Minho, in the district of Viana do Castelo. It is limited in the east by Spanish Galicia, in the south by the municipality of Ponte da Barca, in the southwest and west by Ponte de Lima, also by its western frontier with Paredes de Coura, in the north by Monção and northwest by Melgaço. Territorially, it occupies 20.18% of the Alto Minho subregion, 2.10% of the Norte region, or approximately 0.5% of continental Portugal.
The physical geography of the municipality consists of three fundamental morphological units: the river-valley depression occupied by the Rivers Vez and Lima, of which 35% of the municipality is located; the mountainous escarpment of the Peneda-Gerês; and an accidented area in the west that extends to the eastern limits of the municipality. The Vez valley, which crosses the territory from north to south, divides the mountainous western and eastern areas and is the location of the principal activities of the territory.
The municipal seat of Arcos de Valdevez, the city specifically, is composed of the civil parishes of Salvador and São Paio, which together account for a population of approximately 2204 inhabitants. It is characteristic of the larger area of northern Portugal, with a relatively homogeneous culture and population, dispersed within a similar scenic environment; it is one of the larger municipalities in Portugal, with an area of approximately 447.6 square kilometers (172.8 sq mi).
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 36 civil parishes.
The largest of parishes, Gavieira, Soajo, Cabreiro, Gondoriz, and Sistelo, are located in the mountainous areas that are part of Peneda-Gerês National Park.
The municipal seat is situated 36 kilometers (22 mi) from Braga Municipality and 90 kilometers (56 mi) from Porto, in the civil parish of São Salvador. The urban agglomerations of Arcos de Valdevez coincide roughly with the principal roadway, the Estrada Nacional E.N.101, that links Braga with Monção. The construction of the ancillary I.C.28 altered this pattern, permitting rapid access to Arcos de Valdevez from other regional centers.
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