Góis matters

Nowadays, people get fascinated by big cities, luxuries and facilities but there’s a whole new world, a natural one where people and nature exist in harmony. Such place is Góis, a village surrounded with forests. Góis, one of the oldest villages in Portugal, with approximately 900 years of existence was built around the river Ceira as a source of food and water. Surrounded by nature, this tiny village has about 4,000 inhabitants and a nice, beautiful river and landscape which is a substantial reason why people visit it. 

The community that lives here provides their needs by the market place and for that reason the market is the life of the village. Every day local people sell and buy products like flowers, clothes, food and even animals.  Furthermore, every summer and especially in August a festival takes place in Góis near the river. This big event lasts 3-4 days and attracts many visitors and more specifically, 15-20 thousands bikers from all over the country.  People who were interviewed said that they are very happy and cheerful about the festival because it is an opportunity to spend their time in the middle of nature.

The Royal Bridge, that river Ceira passes through.

The festival supports, not only Góis but also the villages in the region both economically and socially.

When questioned, in general, all people agreed that Góis is a great place to live in, although, there are some problems. One of them is the long lasting winter that affects agriculture in a negative way and consequently decreases the amount of visitors and also the ability of the sellers that come from other areas to Góis. Besides from this problem, in the winter, people face another one which is the lack of formal jobs due to the climacteric conditions, which is worse during this season.  The lack of job opportunities is not limited by the winter but it is a general problem in the village which increases desertification.

As a conclusion, according to the points of view of the people that were interviewed we can clearly affirm that there is an urgent need to come up with some solutions that regard the implementation of occupation opportunities that can lead to a better socioeconomic level for the villagers.

Grupo 1