Açôr
Ádela
Aldeia Velha
Carrimá
Carvalhal
Coiços
Foz da Cova
Loural
Malhada
Quinta das Águias
Quinta de Belide
Ribeira de Ádela
Ribeiro de Além
Roçaio
Saião
Salgado
Sobral
Soito
Vale de Asna

The village of Loural is situated in a hidden valley that snakes its way down to the river Ceira above Colmeal. A narrow footpath leads down to the xisto village. The houses are arranged along the path, up or down short flights of steps. Loural is probably one of the best examples of a small mountain village as it is without any large modern buildings. All the houses are built from the local stone: both types of xisto were quarried from the valley – the xisto used for the building, and the hard blue xisto, (similar to slate) used for roofing. The timber for the buildings was also grown locally. In the valley bottom, on one of the terraces, there are two massive chestnut trees, that have been coppiced over several centuries to provide timber. This is also an indication of the age of the terraces, as it is estimated that the trees are over 400 years old.

In the past Loural had a thriving community, the families had many children, and people worked on the land. A former resident recounted to us how they used to live: They gathered chestnuts in the autumn, dried them over the fire, peeled them by stamping on them and stored them in wooden ‘arcas’ (chests). Chestnuts were a very important food source for people in the past. They also planted maize that they took to the mill, ‘Moinho do Loural’, for grinding. A meal they frequently used to make were the ‘carolos’ - rough ground maize cooked in salt water until it was a thick pulp, mixed with some olive oil, cut into pieces and accompanied by cooked chestnuts, olives, or when they had them, sardines. They would also eat these with honey (similar to Italian ‘polenta’). In the kitchen was the open fireplace where the family used to gather. The sausages were hung over the fire to smoke them, and the ham was first dried, salted and then smoked over the fire in the kitchen.
Water came from the wells (poços) and from the valley (barroco), and occasionally frogs would be found swimming in the drinking water! The children went to school at Colmeal, one and a half hours each way, by little paths. (Although it has been a long time since children played here, you can still see pictures scratched into stones around the village.)

In Loural you can see jutting out in the gateways, flat stones pierced with a hole, that appear to be fixings for a heavy gate. Another remarkable feature is that in front of buildings used to house sheep and goats the walls are very strong and high. These two things would suggest that the villagers took the protection of their livestock from the local wolf population very seriously.

The village of Loural has recently been sold, and it is believed that the new owner wishes to restore the village for the purpose of Rural Tourism. We would like to wish him every success with his venture.