Carrazeda de Ansiães

The municipality of Carrazeda de Ansiães is an ancient, varied and welcoming land that extends over a territory that has one of the oldest demarcations with written references in the history of our country. Here, in one of the most ancient Portuguese municipalities, its territorial area having been demarcated around the 11th century, when the Leonese king, Ferdinand the Great, granted it a charter. Since then, Ansiães has marked the entire history of the north-east of Trás-os-Montes, establishing itself in this region as one of the most important fortresses on the right bank of the River Douro.

The municipality is located on an interfluvial route, demarcated to the south and west by the deep valleys of the Douro and Tua rivers, and to the north and northeast by the vastness of a plateau, where a more uniform and arched landscape emerges. What marks out this territorial and administrative district is undoubtedly its great diversity of landscapes and the indelible testimonies of its rich historical past.

From Foz-Tua, where the two rivers meet, it takes about half an hour to reach the town, the seat of the current municipality. On this route, just over 17 kilometers long, you experience a real sense of change. In a short space of time, the schist gives way to granite, the vines and olive trees give way to chestnut and apple trees, and the terrain is no longer harsh, abrupt, almost dramatic, but becomes an open, calm expanse of silence and peace.

Its 281.8 km² are currently home to around 5,490 inhabitants spread over 14 parishes. It is therefore a typically rural municipality which, economically speaking, exploits a wide variety of agricultural resources, where wine, olive oil and apples are the most profitable products.

From the vines, which mainly occupy the inhabitants of the villages located within the area of the “Evolving and Living Cultural Landscape”, classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, comes the precious and famous “nectar”, which here is called “fine wine” or “fortified wine”, but which from Gaia invades international markets under the charismatic name of “Port wine”.
 Olive oil is also famous and is on a par in terms of quality with oranges, figs, chestnuts, potatoes from the plateau and the by-products of pastoral farming, in which cheese stands out as an excellent quality product.

In recent decades, apple production has grown the most in the municipality and it is now a high quality fruit. The apples from the Carrazedense plateau are juicy and are subject to the highest standards of selection before being sold.
The diversity of the landscape, the fauna, the vernacular heritage, the natural heritage, the architectural heritage and, above all, the archaeological heritage are just a few examples of the potential local synergies that can be enjoyed by visitors to our municipality.

In addition to all this, there is also the value of hunting, gastronomy, handicrafts, ethnography and thermalism, a recreational and therapeutic activity in which the municipality also has strong potential.

The traveler is offered the usual hospitality of the local population, the friendliness, the quality of the local products, the beauty of the landscape and its natural environment, but also the ancestry of a land that allows a journey through an ancient time where, among many other examples, the famous paintings of Cachão da Rapa, the dolmens of Vilarinho da Castanheira and Zedes, the well-known crags with rock inscriptions (fragas das ferraduras) and the other local and regional highlights: Ansiães Castle, a classified National Monument since 1910.