Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo () is a municipality in the District of
Guarda Guarda may refer to:
* Guarda, Portugal, city in Portugal
* Guarda District, the district containing that city
* Roman Catholic Diocese of Guarda, Portugal, the diocese containing that city
* Guarda, Switzerland, municipality in Grisons, Switzerlan ...
in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 5,150,
[Instituto Nacional de Estatística]
/ref> in an area of 508.57 km2.castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
which is a listed National monument
A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...
, as well as pine-wood forests and rolling hills.
The municipality borders the frontier with Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, formed by the Águeda River
Águeda () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. According to the Portuguese 2011 census, the municipality of Águeda had 47,729 inhabitants, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 14,504 (2001 data), while the remainder is distri ...
, a tributary of the Douro
The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish Soria Province, province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern par ...
, which it joins at Barca D'Alva, approximately 18 km north of Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo town.
The present Mayor is Carlos Condesso, elected by the Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Form ...
. The municipal holiday is July 7.
Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo figures in José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese writer. He was the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which ...
's 2008 novel ''The Elephant's Journey''.
Climate
Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo has a 's 2008 novel ''The Elephant's Journey''.
Climate
Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo has a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Temperatures can easily surpass in the summer and go below in the winter. It is one of the coldest towns in Portugal in the winter. It registered a record low temperature of on January 12, 1967, making it the fifth coldest temperature ever recorded in the country and the third coldest since 1960.
Parishes
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 10 civil parishes (''freguesia (Portugal)">freguesias
(), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Portuguese overs ...
* Algodres, Vale de Alfonsinho e Vilar de Amargo
* Almofala e Escarigo
* Castelo Rodrigo
* Cinco Vilas e Reigada
* Colmeal e Vilar Torpim
* Escalhão
* Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo
* Freixeda do Torrão, Quintã de Pêro Martins e Penha da Águia
* Mata de Lobos
* Vermiosa