The São Macário mountain reaches 1054 meters of altitude, and is a magnificent point of observation of the mountains and valleys of the Montanhas Mágicas® to the East and North, and the Caramulo and Estrela mountains, to the South. To be admired is the great view of the valley of Deilão, bounded by quartzite ridges ending precisely at this location and that extends from Valongo, ripping the ground with steep grooves along their passage. These quartzites are still witnesses of life that occurred in the oceans about 480 million years ago, having been recorded in the rocks the marks of trilobites and other animals (ichnofossils). At the top of the mountain are still frequent folds resulting from the same forces that raised and shaped these mountains.
São Macário’s top is an extreme place, with characteristic species of mountain areas, such as the murbeckiella and the rocky germander, Portuguese endemic species that grow in mountain shale outcrop of the center and north of Portugal while the common rock thrush cheers the plateau with its vivid colors and the yellow garlic takesthe small accumulations of land between boulders to grow, offering bright yellow patches to the otherwise wilderness of these mountains. Close to the village of Macieira, there is still a remarkable set of centenaries chestnut trees, with more than five centuries each, proving the ancestry of these lands occupation.
The São Macário’s legend tells the story of a man who, by accident, slew his father so, in order to save his soul became a hermit, until the end of his days, at the top of the mountain where he fed himself on herbs and locusts and blamed himself day and night, thus gaining fame of holy. It was therefore erected on the site the St. Macário’s chapel and, later, another chapel, being both very popular and visited during the pilgrimage to São Macário at the end of July each year.
