Aigra Nova
Aigra Velha
Alagoa
Albergaria
Alegria
Alvém
Bordeiro
Carcavelos
Carvalhal Miúdo
Casal Bordeiro
Carvão
Casal dos Moinhos
Casalinho de Baixo
Casalinho de Cima
Casal Loureiro
Caselhos
Cerdeira
Cerejeira
Chã e Favaqueira
Cimo de Alvém
Civado
Comareira
Conhais
Cortecega
Esporão
Folgosa
Frontão
Ladeiras
Liboreiro
Luzendas
Outeiro
Manjão
Nogueiro
Pena
Piães
Pião
Pontão do Seladinho
Ponte do Sótão
Portela
Portela de Góis
Póvoa de Cerdeira
Póvoa de Góis
Povorais
Quinta do Carvão
Regateira
Ribeira Cimeira
Ribeira Fundeira
Samoura
São Martinho
Vale Boa
Vale de Maceira
Vale Godinho
Vale Moreiro
Vale Torto
Vale Travasso

The village of Val Boa (‘fine valley’) sits in its own secluded valley. The gentle slope below the village is mostly covered in old olive trees, and drops steeply to the stream and then to woodland that surrounds the village. The road to the village from either direction is narrow and twisty. The houses in the village are built from xisto, that has turned from silver-blue to a rich red ochre over many years. Chestnut lintels, taken from the trees around the village, are built into the walls over the doors and windows. Around the village are a number of small windowless stone buildings that were once used to house the sheep and goats, grazed on the hills above the village. Narrow streets rise steeply through Val Boa, and several of the buildings are built over the streets. In the population census of 1527, it is recorded that ‘Vallboa’ had two dwellings with fireplaces (‘fogos’), that were liable for tax.

Above the village is a large circular water tank that was built to improve the reliability of the village’s water source. Although the levada, or water-course, in the valley used to meet Val Boa’s needs, after the planting of eucalyptus higher on the hills above the village, the water source became less reliable. There is no chapel in the village, but the chapel of  São Martinho is shared with Val Boa and Vale Godinho. In the hills around the village there are several old mine-shafts that are said to date back to the time of the Moors. One of the oldest residents of Val Boa recounted that the young men of the village used to go to work panning for tungsten in the  Serra do Rabadão, some 90 years ago. She also recounted that many people had long since left the village, attracted to the city life in Lisbon.

While photographing the village between rain-showers, we came across many purple and white orchids, and also, more unusually, a small clump of  Serapias vomeracea orchids. These delicate flowers must surely be one of the jewels in the Góis region’s floral crown!