Oliveira de Azeméis

I VISITED a small town that lies 50 kilometres to the south of Porto and which is known for its hat-making and dairy industry. Needless to say, I wasn’t there for the hats but I did have a chance to explore a few of the local buildings and nature trails when a couple of Brazilian friends showed me around the place.

The name is derived from the town’s olive trees (’oliveira’), of which there are many. Its most famous resident was the famous Portuguese writer, Ferreira de Castro (1898-1974), whose ‘social-realism’ was inspired by the working class folk of the factories and fields.

We set out on a hike through local woodland, where I managed to capture some wonderful photos of the beautiful rivers that serve the various mills in the area. We also visited a museum, which contained the various tools of the trade and bought some fresh bread from a nearby shop. You can also see some Bronze Age / Iron Age / Roman ruins known as Castro de Ul.