São Félix Hill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

São Félix Hill (202 metres) is the highest hill in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal. It is located in the civil parish of Laundos, and is a sequence of Serra de Rates (mountain range of Rates); despite its modest height, it is distinguished in the landscape for being a rise in front of a coastal plain. The hill has ruins of a small castro settlement of around the 2nd century B.C.

The hill has a panoramic view over the city, its rural area, and beaches; it has the chapels of São Félix (in the hilltop) and Senhora da Saúde (in the hill foot), mills (some converted into holiday houses), and the São Félix Hill. The Rates Shooting Camp is located is located nearby. The São Félix Stairs is used to reach the hilltop and can be a defy to some, although one can also reach the top throw a small road.

It is believe that in this Hill Saint Félix used to live. In a local myth, that became important for Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula, he is thought to have found the body of the first bishop of the Iberian Peninsula: Saint Peter of Rates, in the hilltop while seeing a light every evening. This myth was used by Braga clergy in order to justify that city's leading place in the Christian Iberian Peninsula.

Alto River starts in São Félix Hill, reaching the coast of the civil parish of Estela, precisely in Rio Alto Beach.