Monsanto In 1938 Monsanto was voted the 'most Portuguese village in Portugal'. Since then it has been protected by building regulations that ensure the village retains an almost preternatural charm. Granite cottages are squeezed in amongst giant boulders, many of which form part of the houses themselves, as walls or steps, in a picturesque, higgledy-piggledy fashion. The tiny streets, just wide enough for a donkey, are carved out of rock and climb four hundred feet up a very steep hill. The hill, known as the Mons Sanctus, rises to a height of nearly eight hundred meters.
