Penedo do Cavalinho

This unusual boulder resembles a horse in shape as a war mount. It is located at the beginning of the first plateau of the Paramuna mountain range, just thirty meters west of the Merendas Rock.

It offers a beautiful landscape, characterized by the lead-coloured bareness of the rocks, and fearsome for the inaccessibility it offers to those who wish to continue climbing the mountain. A very old legend associates this interesting crag with the horse of Ferdinand the Great, great-grandfather of King Afonso Henriques, when he passed through these lands in 1057 to expel the Moors. According to legend, when the horse reached the lower plateau of the steep Paramuna mountain range and looked at the obstacles in front of him, he was so terrified that he became immobilized and petrified.

From any angle you look at the cliff, you get the feeling that the equine being depicted is holding on to the gualdrapa, which protects him from the blows of spears. Also well represented are the saddle and the animal's head 'looking' towards the top of the mountain.