Algares
Amieiros
Amiosinho
Amioso Cimeiro
Amioso do Senhor
Amioso Fundeiro
Boiça
Cabeçadas
Candeia
Caniçal
Carrasqueira
Casal Novo
Chã de Alvares
Cilha Velha
Coelhosa
Corga da Vaca
Cortes
Estevianas
Fonte dos Sapos
Fonte Limpa
Foz de Alvares
Lomba
Madeiros
Mega Cimeira
Mega Fundeira
Milreu
Obrais
Portela do Torgal
Relva da Mó
Roda Cimeira
Roda Fundeira
Simantorta
Telhada
Vale da Fonte
Vale do Laco
Varzina

The road to Coelhosa follows the dividing line between the concelhos of Góis and Pampilhosa da Serra before descending a few hundred metres to the village of Coelhosa. As you can read on a marble plaque when you come to the village, the street was only tarmaced in 2002 by the two câmaras. Although it is at an altitude below 600m, Coelhosa has the feel of a mountain village, and the view to the south is breathtaking.

There is a strange story about the origin of the village: It is said that a man had a donkey that ran away, and the man caught him in the place that today is Coelhosa. He was so happy to find his donkey, that he founded the village.

Traditionally the villagers drew water from the streams and wells in the village. After the planting of eucalyptus trees in the mid-20th century both water courses and groundwater became less abundant and Coelhosa’s isolation prohibited the piping-in of water. Today there is sufficient water to sustain the present inhabitants, but Senhora Fernanda, who we spoke to, thought that the water supply would no longer meet the demands of the village’s population as it was 40 years ago.
Life then was hard she said, but the community was very close and there was always laughter and joking. The old people never felt alone, since there was always someone from the family or a neighbour to be with them. People went out in the morning to gather wood for heating the oven so that by lunch time they could be baking the ‘broa’. Many times they got up in the darkness to start going up to the hills for firewood. People lived from agriculture, and when forestation came, also from resin collecting and making charcoal.

When they were young they couldn’t wait for Sunday. On Sundays, they used to gather in each others’ houses and hold dances in the light of petrol lamps. In the village was a young man that played accordion and another who played the flute. Sometimes they were out in the hills all day cutting firewood from early morning on, but when it was time for the dancing at night they forgot their tired feet and legs. The dance parties were the most important thing in their hard lives.

At Carnival the men dressed in the women’s clothes and the women in the men’s, but as the village was small and the people poor, it was difficult to get disguised as the people knew each others’ clothes. It was the most important day of the year, and everyone tried to make the best and richest food and people gathered to play cards and have a good time.