Monte de Santo Antonino (Saint Antonino Hill), Mesão Frio, Guimarães

If you travel by the Minho region by bicycle, you bet you can soon rival with Lance Armstrong. You'll hardly find a plain area for relaxing your muscles. Instead, you have to constantly climb and go down steep hills. If you don't take your time to enjoy, you may easily be absorbed by the effort and miss some treasures that hide at the top of these hills.

One of these treasures lives at the top of Monte de Santo Antonino (Saint Antonino Hill), just 5 kms far from Guimarães, siding the road N-101 to Fafe, close to Paçô Vieira (Mesão Frio). You have to take a deep breath before climbing, because it's going to be hard, mainly the last 100 metres. However, the effort pays back generously. At the top, you are awarded with a charming little romanic chapel, located at the edge of a large square. The chapel, which is flanked by a little tower, was probably built around the fifteenth century, to the honour of Saint Antonino.

Saint Antonino is believed to relieve the suffering of asthmatics. There is even a little rock besides the chapel, where someone suffering from asthma can find a cure. The ritual is simple: you just have to blow into a mysterious hole in the rock. However, the recipe works only at midnight of the first Saturday of September. And only one person can be cured each year! The list of candidates is long and you have to obtain the authorization from the master of ceremonies of Saint Antonino's celebration.

If you climb the hill in a sunny day, you'll have another compensation: an amazing panorama view to the valleys of Selho (to the north) and Fafe (to the east). From there, you can plan your next hill climbing!

Monte de Santo Antonino coordinates: 41.443201, -8.23878