Junta de Freguesia
Basically, the village government
The mayor of Monsanto & Idanha-a-Velha is Paulo Jorge Paiva Monteiro, and the other helpful gentleman usually there is Jorge Costa. If you need a proof of residence document (for registering residence and required for all sorts of other purposes by all sorts of authorities), they will help you. Have 1 Euro to hand for each page that they issue for you.
Open Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning.
Location: modern building uptown between GNR and cannons, next to post office.
The junta is also responsible for organising maintenance of public roads, including unpaved ones. So, if your access track is public and becoming unnavigable, report to the junta (but don’t expect anything to happen very quickly).
EU citizens resident in Portugal are entitled to vote in municipal elections, after registering to vote. This is also done at the Junta de Freguesia.
Espaço do Cidadão
Located in the modern building a bit below the cannons, where doctor’s surgery, post office and Adega Tipica are.
Open Mon – Fri 9-13 and 14-17
E-mail ec.idanha-a-velha (at) ama.pt
The very patient and helpful Isabel Caldeira can help with various matters, e.g.
- Renewing a Portuguese driver’s license
- Print or copy documents needed for official purposes
- Help fill in application for oak cutting license
- Telling you what office deals with what formality
Câmara in Idanha-a-Nova
Municipal government
If you can’t get it done at the Junta or the Espaço Cidadão, head for the camara.
- Initial residency registration for EU citizens
- Applying for water connection
- Visiting Finanças office
- Chasing up the caderneta for the land you just bought
- Applying for building project
- …
Office hours mostly 9 – 17h, closed for lunch 13-14h, but some contacts only reachable by appointment