Monsanto, Portugal

Monsanto in Castelo Branco district clings to a granite hillside in the easternmost reaches of central Portugal, its houses built between and beneath enormous boulders that dwarf the buildings and appear to grow out of the rock. The village was voted the Most Portuguese Village in Portugal in a 1938 contest, a designation it has retained as a cultural identity marker. The ruined castle at the summit commands views across the border lowlands into Spain.