Portugal Day 6 – Tomar and Coimbra

Tomar – Convent of Christ

A fellow traveller in the group wore this t-shirt today, a perfect summing up of the trip at this point. Our brains are full of history, art, food, colour – not a bad state to be in. The first stop today in our lovely transport was Tomar, the location of the Convent de Cristo or Convent of Christ and the surrounding Castle Complex: together they have been designated as a UNESCO Heritage site.

The Convent of Christ looms over the town of Tomar, situated on the hill in the centre of town. The castle dates to the mid 12th C it and was built by the Knights Templar, invited to Portugal by the first Portuguese kings to help with the Christian reconquest pf Portugal and to serve as a stopping point on the Crusades. The Knights Templar (KT) are an interesting group, whose exploits (true and in many cases exaggerated) have appeared in popular movies such as Inferno and The Da Vinci Code. The KT created the first banking system in Europe, providing a place for pilgrims/crusaders headed on the 18 mth trek to the holy land a place to put their money in return for a chit until they reached their destination where it could be reclaimed. As the mortality on the crusades was horrendous, the KT grew quite wealthy on the proceeds of unclaimed chits. They also loaned money to Royalty and the Church, which resulted in some interesting situations when debt owners in those circles didn’t wish to repay what they owed and felt that the KT became a little too famous and powerful. The result was perhaps predictable, the KT were dissolved by Pope Clement V in the early 14th C.

The history of the KT in Portugal mirrors the history of the convent. Built first as a military stronghold that castle was converted on the dissolution of the KT to the Convent of Christ, with the KT assimilated into the Order of Christ (for you Trekkies out there – in a Borgish type way) It was either assimilate or die – often quite unpleasantly. Neat trick on the part of the Pope, as all of the wealth of the KT now resided in the Church.

The church was added on to and expanded since that time. Prince Henry the Navigator and Vasco de Gama – members of the order – were instrumental in the development and execution of the Portuguese maritime explorations during the Age of Discovery in the 15th C.

A Convent has a different meaning here than in North America. Here it is a place where monks live on site and there were up to 250 of them occupying the structure at one time. The convent and castle are stunning and provided us with a lot of photo ops. A huge bonus was the lack of crowds due to it being off season.

Following a couple of hours in the Castle with another excellent local guide, we headed down into the charming town of Tomar for a walk around, some shopping and lunch. The avocado toast, served with smoked salmon, mesclun greens and an egg did not disappoint. Tomar is built around the Castle along the river and is a lovely place for a post lunch stroll before heading off on the next leg of the journey to the University town of Coimbra.

Coimbra

The sun was low in the sky when we entered Coimbra and pulled up in front of our hotel. The hotel has a top floor terrace with magnificent views over the city and was where I caught the sun illuminating the hilltop University on film. Once checked in the group headed out for an early evening stroll through the towns myriad side streets and square, taking photos and trying some sour cherry liquor (Ginja) before settling down to a really (and I mean REALLY) good Peticos (tapas) meal at Fangas. Petiscos are a fabulous way to try different dishes without having to deal with a huge plate of food. Restaurants are everywhere in the city – ranging from multi-table venues to a single table set up in an alley way.

Petiscos – mackerel, bruschetta, mussels, octopus

Lovely evening. Tomorrow we climb the hill to visit the University of Coimbra and Library before heading to the train station to catch the train to Porto later in the day.