Page 216 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Portugal

28 Portuguese village in Portugal”. HIDDEN GEM
The village is at one with the
Penamacor granite hillside on which it Nature Reserve
perches: its lanes blend into The Reserva Natural
! F3 £ @ n Largo Tenente the grey rock, the houses da Serra da Malcata
Coronel Júlio R Silva; 277
394 106 squeezed between massive around Penamacor,
boulders. Tiny gardens sprout offers 20 sq km
Fought over by successive from the granite and dogs (8 sq miles) of wilder­
ness. The reserve
drink from granite bowls.
waves of Romans, Visigoths
EXPERIENCE The Beiras was fortified in the 12th a castro, a Lusitanian fortified The present appearance of
shelters wolves, otters
The ruined castle began as
and Moors, this frontier town
and, most importantly,
the Iberian lynx.
century by Gualdim Pais,
settlement, and suffered a long
history of sieges and battles for
Master of the Knights Templar
(p176). Today the weather-
its commanding position. It
beaten castle walls rise above
was finally destroyed by a
the cathedral comes from
19th-century gunpowder
a quiet town at the heart of
hardy, sparsely inhabited
ation, but in the echoing
beyond the village centre, but
coun try where the main
the view alone is worth the
interior are stacked inscribed
attrac tion is hunting. explosion. Cars cannot go early 16th-century restor-
From the main square, the walk up to the ruined walls. and sculpted Roman stones.
road up to the old town passes In the middle of the village
beside the former town hall, is a 17th-century pillory, the
built over a medieval archway. 30 Renaissance Igreja Matriz and a
Beyond lie the restored castle ruined Torre dos Templários, a
keep and the 16th-century Idanha-a-Velha relic of the Templars. This order
Igreja da Misericórdia, with an ! F3 @ n Rua da Sé; 277 of religious knights held sway
elegant Manueline portal 914 280 in Idanha until the 14th century.
capped by armillary spheres,
the emblem of Manuel I. This modest hamlet among
the olive groves encapsu lates 31
the history of Portugal. Sign-
29 posts in Portuguese, French Castelo Branco
and English guide visitors
Monsanto round the landmarks of this ! F4 £ @ n Avenida Nuno
fascinating living museum. Alvares 30; 272 330 339
! F3 @ n Rua Marquês da
Graciosal; 277 314 642 Idanha-a-Velha was, it is This handsome, busy old city,
said, the birthplace of the overlooked by the vestiges of
An odd fame hit Monsanto in Visigothic King Wamba, and a Templar castle, is the most
1938 when it was voted “most had its own bishop until 1199. important in the Beira Baixa.

Monsanto’s houses,
drawfed by immense
granite boulders
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