Oliveira de Azeméis

Oliveira de Azeméis is a city and a municipality located in Porto Metropolitan Area in Portugal. Administratively, the municipality belongs to the District of Aveiro. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 68,611, in an area of 161.10 km2. The city itself has a population of about 20,000. Oliveira de Azeméis is located 35 km to the south of Porto. It is less than 20 km far from the Atlantic Ocean. The municipal holiday is the Monday that follows the 2nd Sunday of August.

Facilities
Local facilities include:
 * Hospital de São Miguel
 * Higher education schools
 * Secondary schools
 * Basic schools
 * Regional museum
 * Hotel
 * Post Office
 * Police station
 * Clinic centres
 * Tourism office
 * Library - Biblioteca Municipal Ferreira de Castro

Economy
It is an important industrial center, producing a wide variety of goods such as injection moulds, dairy produce, shoes, car components, steel tubes and other steel materials (Ferpinta), cookware (Silampos and CELAR), springs and mattresses. Among its most well-known companies are Simoldes and Lactogal.

Transportation
It has connection by the following motorways: A1, A29 and A32; and the IC2 expressway. It is served by Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport/Oporto's airport.

Sports
Its most prominent sports club is the União Desportiva Oliveirense (U.D.O.) which fields teams in football, basketball and ring hockey as well as an affiliated cycling team that holds a UCI Continental team licence, the Kelly–Simoldes–UDO (UCI team code: KSU). One other club is Futebol Clube Pinheirense (FCP), it is a club dedicated mostly to football. They have a kids school in partnership with Benfica from Lisbon.

Parishes
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 12 civil parishes (freguesias):
 * Carregosa
 * Cesar
 * Fajões
 * Loureiro
 * Macieira de Sarnes
 * Nogueira do Cravo e Pindelo
 * Oliveira de Azeméis, Santiago de Riba-Ul, Ul, Macinhata da Seixa e Madail
 * Ossela
 * Pinheiro da Bemposta, Travanca e Palmaz
 * São Martinho da Gândara
 * São Roque
 * Vila de Cucujães

Cities and towns
There is one city in the municipality: Oliveira de Azeméis. The towns are
 * Carregosa
 * Cesar
 * Fajões
 * Loureiro
 * Nogueira do Cravo
 * Pinheiro da Bemposta
 * Vila Chã de São Roque
 * Vila de Cucujães

Marian sanctuary
In the centre there is a Marian sanctuary, La-Salette. It was built in order to honor the apparitions of Virgin Mary in the small village of La Salette, Isère, in France. The sanctuary contains the finger of a burglar that tried to steal some precious artifacts (one night a guard shot a burglar with his shotgun and only hit his finger). The finger lies inside an alcohol jar right in front of the chapel.

Notable people

 * Abel Pêra (1891 in Carregosa – 1975) a Portuguese actor based in Brazil.
 * Manuel Pêra (1894 in Carregosa – 1967) a Portuguese actor based in Brazil.
 * Ferreira de Castro (1898–1974) a Portuguese social realist writer and journalist.
 * Julieta Gandra (1917–2007) a doctor, imprisoned for supporting the Angolan War of Independence
 * Carlos da Silva Costa (born 1949) an economist, Governor of the Bank of Portugal, 2010-2020

Sport

 * Adelino Teixeira (born 1952) a Portuguese retired footballer with 322 club caps and 12 for Portugal
 * Bruno Neves (1981–2008) a Portuguese professional road racing cyclist
 * Cátia Azevedo (born 1994) a Portuguese 400 metres sprinter, competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics