Guedinha

Por: Maria Helena Guedes

Arcos de Valdevez is situated in the northwest Portuguese peninsula of the historical province ofMinho, in the district of Viana do Castelo. It is limited in the east by Spanish Galicia, south the municipality of Ponte da Barca, southwest and west by Ponte de Lima, also by its western frontier with Paredes de Coura, north by Monção and northwest by Melgaço. Territorially, it occupies 20.18% of the Minho-Lima subregion, 2.10% of the Norte region, or approximately 0.5% of continental Portugal. The municipality is constituted by three fundamental morphological units: the river-valley depression occupied by the Rivers Vez and Lima, of which 35% of the municipality is located; the mountainous escarpment of the Peneda-Gêres; and an accidented area in the west that extends to the eastern limits of the municipality. The Vez valley, which crosses the territory from north to south, divides the mountainous western and eastern areas, and is the location of the principal activities of the territory.