Avô is a Portuguese parish in municipality of Oliveira do Hospital, District of Coimbra in Portugal.
The toponym comes from a ford in the river Alva and the river Ribeira de Pomares. A small lake formed by the two streams at their junction, with a small island in the middle.
The Avô castle was built by D. Afonso Henriques.
Avô is considered one of the most beautiful locations in Portugal.
The place of Avô and its dominions were donated by Earl D. Henry the bishop of Coimbra. Its fortification, however, is attributed to the reign of D. Afonso Henriques (1112 - 1185).
The historic and architectural evolution of the castle requires further research. In the mid-nineteenth century the structure was already abandoned when, in 1856, its stonework was reused in the construction of the bridge Ribeira de Moura. Subsequently, individuals in the region have pursued the use of ancient stones, degrading the monument entirely.
All the remaining pieces of the castle walls, which comprises the ruins of the Chapel of St. Michael on the perimeter, was classified as a cultural heritage building by decree published on 25 October of 1963.
Avô is a Portuguese parish in municipality of Oliveira do Hospital, District of Coimbra in Portugal.
The toponym comes from a ford in the river Alva and the river Ribeira de Pomares. A small lake formed by the two streams at their junction, with a small island in the middle.
Avô is considered one of the most beautiful locations in Portugal.
The harmonious, amphitheatre-like layout of houses gives Piódão the look of a crib built into the landscape.
The village of Piódão lies on a curve in the road, like a little crib nestling at the foot of a hill.
The delightful, orderly appearance of the houses and streets, all built of schist, is interrupted by the deep blue of the windows and doors of some of the houses. This use of colour is said to originate from the fact that the one shop in the village stocked only blue paint, and due to the isolation it was not easy to travel elsewhere.
It was also the isolation that preserved the historic characteristics of Piódão as we see them today. The charming, whitewashed parish church dedicated to N.S. da Conceição, with its unusual cylindrical buttresses, stands out among the small two-storey houses. The villagers built it with their own money and gold in the early nineteenth century.
