Cabeço de Monsanto is a mountain with inclined slopes, formed by large blocks of old, very worn granite. Hence the appearance of large balls of rock that have been detached over the centuries and rolling until they stop in some anfractuosity.
The described place does not seem to be a very favorable place for human beings to settle, taking into account that the fall of rocks weighing hundreds of tons is worthy of leaving anyone caught like the Roadrunner Coyote. However, people are stubborn and in the same way that the stone posed a danger, it was also an indestructible protection. This is how the town of Monsanto was born, in the Portuguese region of Beira.
Monsanto has been inhabited since the Paleolithic. And later, by Romans, Visigoths, Arabs… That is to say, none of those peoples were afraid of being crushed by the rocks. On the contrary, the traditional houses of the town have been built taking advantage of the roundness of the enormous balls. Thus, their roofs, load-bearing walls, doors and windows fit together and build an absolutely unique troglodyte architecture like no other in the entire country.
Although it is a good attraction for domestic tourism (outside its borders, Monsanto is barely known), the town has not grown excessively, it is located below a thousand souls and its restaurant and hospitality services are not up to much fuss, although their unbeatable advantage is being in a unique place.
In addition to the interweaving between what nature has built and what humans have been able to take advantage of, Monsanto has a rich historical heritage. The remains of the castle that crown Cabeço are the place from which to contemplate the general panoramic view of the troglodyte town. And a dozen Christian temples (the great church, accompanied by up to nine chapels distributed throughout the area) allow for an entertaining tour.
Monsanto held a title that seems quite exotic to the outsider: in 1938 it was proclaimed “the most Portuguese town in Portugal.” Without questioning how such a thing is measured, it seems that the reaffirmation of that award came from the iconic rooster that crowns the weather vane of the parish church and because its inhabitants had known how to preserve the essence of the Portuguese character: affable and welcoming, talkative, polyglot, good gourmet and worker. But, whether because the distinction had a certain supremacist whiff or because the merger with the nearby nucleus of Idanha-a-Velha “broke” the architectural uniformity, the title was withdrawn about a decade ago.
Now, the new parish (the Portuguese equivalent of our parish, inferior to the municipal area) is no longer the most Portuguese of the Portuguese, but it is still a place to which nationals make pilgrimages with veneration to admire how their ancestors made necessity a virtue. and they took refuge under some rocks that, at first, seem more like a threat than protection.
Monsanto belongs to the Castelo Branco district, which is very close to the border with Spain. In fact, to visit it there is less distance to travel from Plasencia in Cáceres (130 kilometers) than from Coimbra (180 kilometers). In any case, in less than two hours you can access this town, which is one of the most original in Portugal.
