Portugal City Travel Guide: Monsanto & Idanha-a-Velha
Monsanto and Idanha-a-Velha are picturesque villages 50 km north east of Castelo Branco in the Beira Baixa region of central Portugal.
Monsanto was voted the nation's "most Portuguese" village during the Salazar era and is best reached by hire car rather than infrequent bus.
The village, located high on a hill over the surrounding plain, seems to rise out of huge granite boulders and there are the eerie remains of a castle and church. The village is at the centre of a number of long distance hiking trails and gets its name from Monte Santo, the nearby mountain.
History
Like much of Portugal the area was settled in turn by Romans, Visigoths and Moors. During the Reconquista, King Afonso I of Portugal took Monsanto from the Muslims and granted local authority to the Knights Templars.
Gualdim Pais, the founder of Tomar, built Monsanto Castle and its walls from the local granite and the town grew around it, its buildings also hewn from the mountain's granite. Unfortunately the fortress was left in ruins after an explosion of ammunition in the 19th century.
Churches
For a village of less than 1,000 inhabitants, Monsanto has a surprising number of churches, most of them small granite chapels.
These include the Capela de Santa Maria do Castelo, the Igreja de São Salvador, the Igreja da Misericórdia do Monsanto and the Igreja Paroquial de Monsanto.
The phallic Pelourinho de Monsanto is an historic pillory close to the castle.
Idanha-a-Velha
About 10 km to the south of Monsanto, Idanha-a-Velha was formally a Roman settlement, Igaeditâina, then occupied by Visigoths, Moors and Templars, now it is a sleepy hamlet with evocative ruins from these civilizations including the remains of Roman walls, a Roman bridge (Ponte Norte) and the Lagar de Varas, an old medieval olive press. An infrequent bus connects Idanha-a-Velha with larger Idanha-a-Nova, 20 km to the south. A 7 km-long walking trail through clumps of olive and cork trees connects Monsanto and Idanha-a-Velha. The trail is sign-posted from the Capela de São Pedro de Vir à Corça.
Idanha-a-Nova
Idanha-a-Nova is "new" only in the sense it is more recent than Idanha-a-Velha. The Boom Festival, an international music and culture festival, is held in summer on the shores of Idanha-a-Velha between the "old" and "new" towns.
Bemposta
Bemposta, 12 km west of Monsanto, is another village constructed with the local granite with a small castle, pillory, a Paços do Concelho (town hall), chapels and lots of historic, stone dwellings that seem to rise up from the very rock.
Penamacor
20 km north of Monsanto is yet another mountain town, Penamacor, with the familiar granite castle, churches and a pillory.
The Museu Municipal de Penamacor has exhibits on the Roman, Visigothic and Islamic history of the town as well as exhibits of the area's natural history.
The house of the Jewish doctor António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1783), who was a physician at the Russian court for a time, has been preserved in the town. He is thought to have fled Portugal to escape the Inquisition and spent his entire adult life outside Portugal. He received a pension from Catherine the great and lived in Paris in his later life.
30 km south east of Idanha-a-Velha on the Spanish border, the Segura Bridge is a partially Roman bridge over the River Erges, a tributary of the Tagus between Portugal and Spain. Of its five arches, two are Roman, the ones closest to the river banks.
The Parque Natural do Tejo Internacional is also within easy driving distance of both villages and Castelo Branco.
Tourist Offices
Monsanto Tourist Office
Rua Marquês da Graciosa 17
6060-091 Monsanto
Tel. 277 314 642.
Idanha-a-Velha Tourist Office
Rua da Sé
Tel: 277 914 280
Getting to Monsanto & Idanha-a-Velha
Train Travel in Portugal
Castelo Branco's train station is the nearest main station. It is located 500 meters from the centre of the town and has links to Covilhã (1 hour; 1 hour 20 minutes) and Lisbon (around 3 hours) via Entroncamento (requiring a change here with local trains) or direct to Gare do Oriente in 2 hours, 50 minutes.
An infrequent bus connects Castelo Branco with Monsanto. Check at the tourist office in either town for the latest timetable.
Car Travel in Portugal
The N23 highway heads to Castelo Branco off the A23/E1 highway to Lisbon. The N239 runs east to west past Monsanto.
Bus Travel in Portugal
Castelo Branco has bus connections to Covilhã (1 hour), Guarda (1 hour, 40-45 minutes), Lisbon with ten departures daily (3 hours, 45 minutes), Coimbra (2-3 hours), Monsanto (1 hour, 30 minutes), Penamacor (1 hour, 20 minutes), and Viseu (2 hours, 40 minutes).
Connections to Salamanca in Spain with onward connections to Madrid leave from Guarda.
Portugal Hotel & Hostel Accommodation
Monsanto has a number of centrally located places to stay including the recommended 3-star Monsanto GeoHotel Escola, the Casa do Chafariz, the Quinta da Pedra Grande, a farm stay, and the Casa Do Castelo.
See here for a full listing of hotel accommodation in Monsanto.
Featured Hotel
Monsanto GeoHotel Escola, Rua da Capela, nº 1, Monsanto, Portugal.
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Lisbon Hop-On Hop-Off Bus, Tramcars, and Yellow Boat River Tour
Eating
There are several good restaurants to enjoy the local food in Monsanto. Try Taverna Lusitana which also serves as a guest house, Adega Tipica O Cruzeiro at Av. Fernando Ramos Rocha 17, O Carlos on Rua da Estrada, Petiscos & Granitos on Rua do Castelo or O Fornvm dv Viriato.
Drinking
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Cafes & Bars
For coffee and snacks try Café Monsantino or O Baluarte.
The average high June temperatures for Portugal is between 22 degrees Centigrade and 26 degrees Centigrade. Summer temperatures in Castel Branco are some of the hottest in the country.
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