Monsanto village in Portugal. Monsanto is a stone village in Portugal... (24 photos) Monsanto village Portugal

27.07.2020

In the mountains of Portugal you can find many incredible villages with stone houses, windmills and foggy, surreal landscapes. The village of Monsanto, which is the focus of this report, is probably the most tourist village in Portugal. It is located between Porto and Lisbon (277 km from the capital), near the border with Spain and the highest mountain range in Portugal, Serra da Estrela. Tourists from all over the world come here at any time of the year. different countries, see what kind of village this is, built among huge stone boulders and awarded itself the title “The Most Portuguese Village in Portugal”.

This title went to Monsanto after winning a competition in 1938, when the village received a silver rooster as a prize. A copy of that rooster now adorns the city tower.

In the description of the village, the first lines are occupied by the fact that when building houses, residents used stone boulders as walls, attaching houses to them... indeed - why not - the result turned out to be very original and harmonious, everything has been holding and standing strong since the 12th century .

A local attraction is the ruins of an old castle, which has stood here since the founding of the village and was destroyed in the 18th century when lightning struck an ammunition depot.

Monsanto Legend

In such a mountainous area, it was quite difficult to conquer a village, well, when it was customary to conquer territories. And in this regard, Monsanto has its own legend.

During one of the next wars, after 7 years of siege, the Monsanto castle ran out of food and was left with one last cow and a bag of grain. The residents, of course, were sad about this, but one strange woman proposed a crazy plan, which for some reason the people supported. The hungry cow was fed grain and, with cheerful cries, thrown directly onto the enemy’s heads.

Enemy heads looked at this madness and decided that since these people, after 7 years of siege, had food piled up, then it was pointless to continue waiting. The enemies gathered and went home with nothing. So the siege was lifted, and the day of liberation - May 3 - is now celebrated in Monsanto under the name "Day of the Holy Cross." Residents, dressed in festive national costumes, walk in a festive procession towards the castle, carrying a white pot decorated with flowers, symbolizing a cow. After the rituals, this pot is thrown from the castle wall to the ground.

How to get to Monsanto

Monsanto is located 270 km from Lisbon and 300 km from Porto. Coordinates: 40.038837, -7.115110. You can get here:

A rented car or bike is the most convenient and desirable option, because on the road you can see enough of other beautiful places in Portugal, choosing whatever you want.
By bus or train from Lisbon (approx. 3 hours) or Porto (5 hours) to Castelo Branco and then by bus to Monsanto. Buses from Castelo Branco to Monsanto run daily at 12.25 and 17.15, except weekends and holidays, and on Sundays at 11.40.

In stone captivity - the town of Monsantu

Lost in central Portugal, the town of Monsanto is hidden under huge granite boulders. Cobblestones hanging over tiled roofs create amazing landscapes. Architecture of the city, from the 12th to the 19th centuries. which is the territorial center of the historical province of Beira Baixa, is a continuation of the spaces created by nature. The most high point The settlement is located at an altitude of 758 meters.

The boulders scattered throughout the city are still balancing on the elephant of the hill, as if at any second they are ready to fall into the abyss. In 1938, Monsanto was recognized as "the most Portuguese village in Portugal", where either stones are born from houses, or houses from stones.

Monsanto is a place recognizable far beyond the borders of Portugal from pictures with unusual buildings, a fortress built by the Templars

Monsanto is a town with a population of 931 people. The village was formed around the Brotherhood of Charity, founded in 1353.

People managed to adapt to the surrounding natural landscape and created houses using cobblestones as walls, ceilings, etc. Therefore, some houses look as if they are sandwiched by massive granite boulders.

After the village was awarded the title of “most Portuguese in Portugal” in a national competition, Monsanto became a living museum.

The settlement is very ancient; traces of human presence here have been recorded since the Paleolithic era. Yes, indeed, there is plenty of stone here, and not just any stone, but granite!

The town was founded in the 12th century. The residents made a fairly reasonable decision not to touch the large boulders, but to build up the space between them, under them, above them, in a word - everywhere, using stones as walls, roofs, foundations and the main building material. The result of the development was a unique intricacy of natural rock formations and human creations, as the locals say, “in Monsantu you never know where the stone ends and the house begins.”

Invent yourself stone tools, you don’t have to go far.

The settlement was recaptured from the Moors by the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques. In 1165, the king donated the village of Monsant to the Knights Templar. The Templars built a fortress on the top of a hill, and in 1293 they rebuilt the fortress and built a defensive wall around it

The castle was actively used over the next eight hundred years, and there were many hunters to conquer it, but Monsantu showed himself to be a tough nut to crack.

The fortress has withstood changing eras and governments, climate change and generational changes, earthquakes and sieges,

This continued until the powder magazine accidentally exploded. The castle was slightly destroyed, but subsequently no one was involved in its restoration, and in this form it has been preserved to this day.

By the way, there is an interesting legend about the war in Monsantu, connected with the most significant local holiday.

Some year passed (historians are still confused), after 7 years of siege there was no food left in the castle at all, except for one cow and a bag of grain. The besieged sadly looked at the little cow, realizing that this last little beast would not delay their hour of death for long. And then some nameless woman came up with the most interesting idea - what if we showed the enemy that they had food lying around?

The townspeople, after consulting, decided to do so, since using a cow for meat and grain for flat cakes did not solve anything - it was still a skiff. So the cow was fed to its full with grain and, with a cheerful hooting, was thrown onto the heads of the enemy.

The bewildered enemy examined the arriving artiodactyl, especially its stuffed belly, and decided that it was pointless to continue the blockade, because if after seven years of isolation in Monsanto even cows are eaten for slaughter, then this siege will never end. The troops retreated and Monsanto was saved.

It is believed that this happened on May 3. On this day the “Day of the Holy Cross” is celebrated. A solemn procession, dressed in festive national costumes, marches towards the castle, carrying a white pot decorated with flowers, symbolizing a cow. After all sorts of rituals, just like how many years ago, the cow, that is, the pot in the modern version, flies from the castle wall to the ground.

The road to the castle, which is located just above the village. The ruins of the castle.

It turns out that the residents of Monsanto did not attach the sonorous slogan about “the most Portuguese ...” to themselves. In 1938, an all-Portuguese national competition was held for this “very-most”, or, in scientific terms, “authentic” settlement, and the winner’s laurel wreath, or rather the silver rooster, fell into the hands of the Monsantians. The rooster still adorns the clock tower in the middle of the village today (by the way, this is a copy).

Regarding the title “The Most Portuguese Village in Portugal,” the opinions of the Portuguese themselves differ: some argue that Monsanto, on the contrary, is a village that is completely different from most Portuguese villages and received this title from the new government as fascist propaganda, they say, live simply and be simpler, use what nature gave you and you will be happy.

Others say that Monsanto, the only settlement in the area, which, despite repeated attempts by the French to conquer it, repelled numerous attacks, withstood long sieges and remained Portuguese. Therefore, Monsanto is “the most Portuguese village in Portugal.”

Be that as it may, what we saw in Monsantu amazes the imagination: huge granite boulders and houses attached to them, and on the stone houses there are bright spots of flowers, extraordinary landscapes that can be seen from the height of the hill, and even the inhabitants of this village themselves, leading a calm, measured life.

When you wander through the narrow cobbled streets, you can’t help but feel like you’re in fairytale city giants and now a huge head of some fairy-tale monster will appear from behind the rock.

Being among all this incomprehensibly fabulous, you ask yourself:
- Why did people even settle here? What brought him here, to a place where there is no reservoir, where there is not even land (!) and tomatoes have to be grown in pots!

But the unpretentious and hardy fig, in search of sunlight, found a crack in the granite, turned green with carved leaves and is growing happily.

Realizing that a fortress, for example, erected on the top of a mountain, was built without cars, tractors and lifts, you are amazed at the abilities of man and his ingenuity: how it was possible to lift and simply move a multi-ton colossus, because stones were placed under some granite “balls”, to fix it in the desired position.

And the use of granite boulders as walls and ceilings - really, the need for invention is cunning - you can’t say it better or more accurately.

Monsanta is visited by hundreds of tourists every day; the greatest influx is in July and August. There are souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants and guest houses, where you can stay for a couple of nights. The cost of double rooms, decorated in a traditional style, with furniture from the 18th-19th centuries, starts from 55 euros, including breakfast and wireless Internet access. Located under a huge boulder, the Petiscos & Granitos restaurant is perhaps the most colorful in Monsanto. Meals served here local cuisine, mainly using products grown in the surrounding area, which corresponds to the concept of the restaurant as an extension of natural landscapes.

The tourist office in Monsanto is open from 10:00 to 18:00; Lunch time is from 13:00 to 14:00. Information Center located on Rua Marquês da Graciosa.

Monsanto is located 277 kilometers northeast of Lisbon and 306 kilometers south of Porto. The medieval town can be reached via the A23 and A1 (E80) motorways when traveling from Lisbon and the A25 motorway when traveling from Porto. Free parking is located at the entrance to Monsanto.

From Lisbon, Porto and others major cities In Portugal you can get to Monsanto by public transport. True, with a transfer in the city of Castelo Branco. Rail services connect Lisbon and Porto to Castelo Branco; trains depart from 8:00 to 19:30 every hour. Travel time is about three hours from Lisbon (trains depart from Gare do Oriente station) and five hours from Porto.

You can also get to Monsanto by bus from Lisbon, Porto and other major cities in Portugal with a transfer to Castelo Branco. From Lisbon to Castelo Branco, the express train departs at 9:50 on weekdays and Saturdays, excluding holidays, and at 14:00 on weekdays from the Rodoviario de Seite Rios terminal, located next to the city zoo. Travel time from Lisbon is about two hours, from Porto - four and a half hours.

From Castelo Branco to Monsanto, buses depart daily at 12:25 (except Sundays and public holidays) and at 17:15 (except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays), and on Sundays at 11:40 (and on Mondays if it is day off). Return flights depart daily at 7:15 am (except Sundays and public holidays), and on Sundays at 2:20 pm (and on Mondays if this is a public holiday). Travel time is about one and a half hours. The distance between the cities is 55 kilometers.

It’s better, of course, to go by car: your own or a rented one, or arrange a transfer or individual excursion with a private guide.

Even by car, the road is long and tiring, the trip is not cheap, because in addition to gasoline, you will also have to pay for highways, since on free roads the distance doubles and the speed decreases threefold.
But what you see live, and not in a photograph - a torn piece of the overall amazing impression - will compensate for all the costs: physical, time, and financial.

some materials used: nessa-flame.livejournal.com

Lost in central Portugal, the town of Monsanto is hidden under huge granite boulders. Cobblestones hanging over tiled roofs create amazing landscapes. Architecture of the city, from the 12th to the 19th centuries. which is the territorial center of the historical province of Beira Baixa, is a continuation of the spaces created by nature. The highest point of the settlement is located at an altitude of 758 meters.

The narrow streets in Monsantu seem to be carved between boulders, and houses are sandwiched between rocky ledges. Over the eight centuries since the founding of the settlement, the urban terrain has changed little. The boulders scattered throughout the city are still balancing on the elephant of the hill, as if at any second they are ready to fall into the abyss. In 1938, Monsanto was recognized as "the most Portuguese village in Portugal", where either stones are born from houses, or houses from stones.

Monsanta is visited by hundreds of tourists every day; the greatest influx is in July and August. There are souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants and guest houses where you can stay for a couple of nights. The cost of double rooms, decorated in a traditional style, with furniture from the 18th-19th centuries, starts from 55 euros, including breakfast and wireless Internet access. Located under a huge boulder, the Petiscos & Granitos restaurant is perhaps the most colorful in Monsanto. It serves local cuisine, predominantly using ingredients grown in the surrounding area, in keeping with the restaurant's concept of being an extension of the natural landscape.

The tourist office in Monsanto is open from 10:00 to 18:00; Lunch time is from 13:00 to 14:00. The information center is located on Rua Marquês da Graciosa.

How to get there

Monsanto is located 277 kilometers northeast of and 306 kilometers south of. The medieval town can be reached via the A23 and A1 (E80) motorways when traveling from Lisbon and the A25 motorway when traveling from Porto. Free parking is located at the entrance to Monsanto.

From Lisbon, Porto and other major cities in Portugal, you can get to Monsanto by public transport. True, with a transfer in the city of Castelo Branco. Rail services connect Lisbon and Porto to Castelo Branco; trains depart from 8:00 to 19:30 every hour. Travel time is about three hours from Lisbon (trains depart from Gare do Oriente station) and five hours from Porto.

Location

Monsanto is located in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, in the district of Castelo Branco, in the Central Region.

November 22nd, 2011

Just before leaving for Portugal, I saw photographs of Monsanto's village. And since I was going to Portugal, I had to get to this village. I’ll say right away - everything was against me getting into this village, all the way there and back, unknown crap put a spoke in my wheels. But it was worth it! I decided not to split the post into two parts, so there will be a lot of photos. (68 photos)

I’ll briefly tell you about the difficulties that were on my way to the village. The village of Monsanto is located 300 kilometers from Porto and there is no way to get there except by car, at least in less than a day. I decided to rent a car. At first Euro Car didn’t give me a car because... I didn’t have an international license (although the police said that with my Russian license I could take a car and drive it). I had to rent a car from another office and pay 25 euros per car. Then on the highway I missed a turn, I decided not to go to the nearest turn for who knows how many kilometers, but just turn back (there were only 15 meters). The road was empty, not a single car. But a couple of minutes after I backed up and drove onto the right road, I noticed the police in the rearview mirror. Basically, they stopped me and, in broken English with extensive use of gestures, informed me that I was driving in reverse on the highway. I still can't figure out how...HOW? they saw it. Then they take a thick tome out of the trunk and point their finger at the number 500 euros. But after I said that I didn’t have that kind of money, they shook their finger a couple of times - like you can’t drive in reverse on the highway, they handed over the documents and left. For a long time I could not believe my luck. The rest of the way to the village went normally, without incident. But on the way back, the navigator took us along the toll road. I had to drive 40 kilometers along it and had to pay about 2-3 euros for it. BUT... it turns out at the entrance to toll road you had to take a ticket and present it at the exit so that they could calculate the distance and fare. I found out this already on the road when they calculated my full tariff 51 euros. 51 euros for 40 kilometers of road!

Mons Sanctus mountain on which the village is located.

A little history: the village is located on the slope of the mountain of the same name (a granite rock, to be precise) 800 meters high, the name translates as “Holy Mountain” (Mons Sanctus).

The village was founded in the 12th century. The residents made a fairly reasonable decision not to touch the large boulders, but to build up the space between them, under them, above them, in a word - everywhere, using stones as walls, roofs, foundations and the main building material. The result of the development was a unique intricacy of natural rock formations and human creations, as the locals say, “in Monsanto you never know where the stone ends and the house begins.”

It turns out that the residents of Monsanto did not attach the sonorous slogan about “the most Portuguese ...” to themselves. In 1938, an all-Portuguese national competition was held for this “most-most”, or, in scientific terms, “authentic” settlement, and the winner’s laurel wreath, or rather a silver rooster, fell into the hands of the Monsantans. The rooster still adorns the clock tower in the middle of the village today (by the way, this is a copy).

In the area, household items of primitive man were found, archaeologists were invited, they dug here and there and told the Monsantians that people had lived in these areas since Paleolithic times. They also found the presence of Iberians, Romans, Visigoths and Arabs. And King Afonso Henriques in 1165 won Monsanto from the Moors and gave it to the Templars for a castle, which was built.

The castle was actively used over the next eight hundred years, and there were many hunters to conquer it, but Monsanto showed himself to be a tough nut to crack.

By the way, regarding the war in Monsanto, there is an interesting legend associated with the most significant local holiday.

We're done with history, let's get back to the present. Actually, there is nothing special to tell - it has to be seen.

The road to the castle, which is located just above the village.

Castle ruins.

I still don’t understand what this is? It looks very much like a grave, exactly in the shape of a person, only the “coffin” lid is missing. Does anyone know what this really is?

That's all! Congratulations to those who have mastered it!

Monsanto is an unusual village in Portugal located on the slope of the Mons Sanctus mountain (translated as “Holy Mountain”), at an altitude of about 800 meters. According to some sources, the first settlers settled in this place back in the 12th century.

Since settling on Mons Sanctus, the inhabitants gradually built up the space between the huge stone blocks, as a result of which, over several centuries, the village turned into a stone labyrinth with narrow streets. In the village you will not find two identical houses, thanks to which Monsanto has become unique architectural structure, which was built over eight hundred years.

Monsanto is called "the most Portuguese village in Portugal", and for good reason. In 1938, a national competition was held in Portugal for the title of the most “native” settlement in the country, where the village of Monsanto, by an overwhelming number of votes, took the prize. The prize was a silver rooster, which is still displayed on the roof of the tower (Torre de Lucano) in the center of the village.

By the way, the main attraction of the village is the dilapidated castle, which was built by the Templars in 1165. This castle became truly impregnable; for eight hundred years, numerous invaders were unable to conquer it. The castle would have been safe and sound to this day, if not for one unfortunate mistake by the gunpowder workers, which led to a powerful explosion and partial destruction of the fortress.

Today Portugal is one of the most popular tourist countries peace. Tours to Portugal in 2014 do not have a high cost, which will more than pay off with a lot of positive emotions. The most popular holiday destinations in Portugal are tours to Porto, Lisbon, Madeira Island and the Azores...