Nossa Senhora da Graça Sanctuary Webcam in Mondim de Basto

When you’re in a contemplative or even meditative mood there’s nothing quite like viewing a decent bit of scenery to accompany your musings. The verdant scenery on this live feed streaming from the Nossa Senhora da Graça Sanctuary in northern Portugal may assist you in reaching the required level of transcendence and then again, it may not.

Although you can’t see it on this cam, the Nossa Senhora da Graça Sanctuary is a much more interesting sight and even more interesting when seen from a drone’s eye view. Perched on top of a steep hill, the mid-18th century granite structure’s outer walls, which architects say are quadrangular but are definitely not square, have an unusual star shape. That’s something to ponder over.

Inside those fortress-like walls are several accessible buildings including decorated chapels and a bell tower. Although it’s a steep climb up the hillside to the old Carmelite convent, it sits nine-hundred metres up Monte Farinha, many people make the journey on foot to visit the site. On the first Sunday of September, they do it en-masse during the annual pilgrimage. Join the cam then and you’ll be able to watch them heads down and backs bent as they wander past on their way to the top.