Set on the slopes of the Serra da Esperança, at a kilometre from the town of Belmonte, the birthplace of Pedro Álvares de Cabral, the Pousada Convento de Belmonte was built by renovating the runs of the former Convento de Nossa Senhora da Esperança. 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 Esperança today on display in the parish church of Belmonte is thought to have been carried to Brasil by Pedro Alvares Cabral. The Pousada has preserved the Monasterys heritage intact(classified as a building of public interest in the 1986), included amphitheatre architecture layout in the pine woods on the slopes of Serra da Esperança, and a stunning landscape with views over the Cova da Beira region and Serra da Estrela