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Ansião

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Framed by mountains, the county of Ansião has to offer visitors the beauty of its natural sceneries and the charm of small and typical villages which have preserved their rural characteristics, as may be seen at Portela de São Lourenço, Venda do Negro and Casais Maduros.

Traditional windmills were also once part of the landscape but they would have completely disappeared if a few hadn't been rebuilt, namely at the parishes of Outeiros and Santiago da Guarda.

The seat of the county is a small and pleasant town with an interesting architectural patrimony, including the Manueline pillory, the Mother Church (with two stone statues depicting Saint Gregory and Saint Sebastian, in the Renaissance style), and the Miserichord Church, with a fine Baroque portal framed by columns.

According to a local legend, Saint Isabel, wife of King Dinis, once bathed in the waters of the Ansião stream under the arches of the medieval Cal Bridge.

Other interesting sites at the county are the communal oven of Avelar, also dating from the Middle Ages, the Constantine Chapel (1623) and the great manor-house of Quinta de Cima, which was a royal palace during the 12th century and later became the residence of the Marquis of Vila Real.

In terms of gastronomy, the region's most popular product is the Rabaçal cheese, made from ewe's and goat's milk and with a mild and characteristic flavour.

Other local dishes worth discovering are roast kid, morcela assada com grelos (a kind of black-pudding with greens) and aferventados («halfboiled», a sort of soup with potato, cabbage or turnip greens, maize bread and the excellent local olive-oil).

Handicrafts offer basketry in wicker and patchwork quilts.

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