Germanelo

About 3 kilometers west of the town of Penela, at an altitude of about 360 meters, we find the Germanelo Castle, a fortress ordered built by D. Afonso Henriques. Opposite this hill, we find another, also conical. These hills are called "Germanelos," at least since the 12th century. The term means "little brothers" or "twins," due to the noticeable similarity of their shape. The geology of Rabaçal stands out for its geological diversity, exemplifying how natural processes have sculpted the landscape over millions of years. Throughout the massif of the Sicó Mountain Range, we can find remains of various plant and animal species that, due to the drastic decrease in oxygen levels in the seabed, became extinct about 182 million years ago during the Lower Jurassic. Along the paths that traverse the landscape, it is possible to find numerous fossils of sponges and marine animals (bivalves), witnesses of that distant past.