Viseu
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Viseu is both a city and a district in central Portugal. Is one of the most important centers in central interior Portugal is crossed by a important european road link IP5 that connects it to Aveiro seaport and Guarda and then to Spain and Salamanca. In 693 AD it was captured by the Moors who held it for most of a century. Viseu is also, some say, the home of Viriathus, the Lusitanians leader that fought the Romans for the freedom of the area called Lusitania. The cathedral dates from 830 AD. The city is also home to one of the biggest nightclub in the Iberian Peninsula called The Day After and it is known for its thriving nightlife.
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Geography
The city of Vizeu has an almost central position in relation to the District and to the Council laying in the designated Vizeu's Plateau (port. Planalto de Viseu). It is surrounded by a mountainous system constituted on the North by the Sierras of Leonil, Montemuro and Lapa, on the Northeast the Sierra of Arado, on the South and Southeast the Serra da Estrela (eng. Sierra of the Star) and Lousã, and to the West the Sierra that influences more this area, the Caramulo.
The Municipality is caracterized by an irregular surface wth altitudes comprehended between the 400 metres and 700 metres. With a rough and eneven relief, it has numerous water courses. In a general way there are organized in three basins: the Vouga's, the Dão's and the Paiva's. Others exist, although with smaller torrent but with a certain importance, the river Pavia and the River de Mel (eng. of honey). Situated in a zone of transition, the Council presents a group of micro-climates. The Serra do Caramulo, located on the west of the council, takes an important role in climatic terms by attenuating the influences of the air masses from the west (although the River Mondego's basin makes the penetration easier). This way, the Viseu's climate is caracterized by the existence of high thermic amplitudes, with rigorous and wet winters and hot and dry summers.
Most of the municipality is composed by granites, being this rock the mais responsible in the formation of the existent soils. In a minor percentage other formations can be found.
Demography
Due to a strong and generalized emigration in the decade of 1960, Viseu suffered an accentuated decrease in the population. After the return of the emigrants, of the people returning from the portuguese ex-colonies, after its independence, and the natural economical development, verified from the end of the decade of 1970, the municipality presented a strong populational growth by 10%, making then an estimated population of 83 261 people. After this date a certain stagnation can be confirmed by the data, preliminary, of the census of 1991 by showing a population of 83 601 individuals.de:Viseu pt:Viseu (Portugal)