Set on the slopes of the Serra da Esperanca,at a kilometre from the town of Belmonte,the birthplace of Pedro Alvares de Cabral,the Pousada Convento de Belmonte was built by renovating the runs of the former Convento de Nossa Senhora da Esperanca. Before the monastery this was the site of a hermitage founded in the thirteenth century, and ancient pagan cults probably used the same location.The Cabral family were patrons of the hermitage, and the image of Nossa Senhora da Esperanca today on displa ...