Tomar (The City of the Templars), Elvas (not Elvis!), Back to Azeitao and Heading Home!

Sunday evening, we arrived in Tomar around 5 pm but it took quite a while to figure out where our hotel was.  We'd put it in the SatNav but the address wasn't recognized.  Note to self: it's better to put in the name of a hotel in case it is located on a pedestrian street!  Once we'd found the Casas Dos Oficios and checked in about one hour later, we were very pleased.  It is a four-star hotel in, I think, an old mansion.The rooms were almost luxurious and the hotel is in a good location; once, of course, you figured out where it is!    

Tomar was the last Templar town to be commissioned for construction and is one of Portugal's historical jewels. The town was especially important in the 15th century when it was a center of Portuguese overseas expansion under Henry the Navigator, the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, successor organization to the Knights Templar in Portugal.The town, with a population of about 20,000 is a World Heritage Site.Its cityscape is dominated to its west by the vast monumental complex of the Convent of Christ as it stands at the top of a hill.It is a main feature of the city’s identity, the unity of which has been preserved.The Convent is surrounded by the walls of the Castle of Tomar. It belonged to the Order of the Templars and was founded in 1160 by Gualdim Pais, grand master of the Knights Templar.Built over the span of five centuries, the Convent of Christ is a testimony to an architecture combining Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque elements.The Convent’s centrepiece is its 12th century rotunda, Oratory of the Templars, influenced by Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre Rotunda.It was built by the first great master of the Templars, Gualdim Pais, and was based on a polygonal ground plan of 16 bays including an octagonal choir with ambulatory: this is one of the typical "rotondas" of Templar architecture of which few examples are still extant in Europe.In 1356, the Convent became the home of the Order of Christ in Portugal and the rotunda’s decoration reflects the Order’s wealth.The paintings and frescos depicting mainly 16th century biblical scenes, as well as the gilt statuary under the Byzantine dome, were carefully restored. When the Manueline church was built, it was connected to the rotunda by an arcade.                   

We wandered around along the river, over a bridge and further into the old town.We stopped in the main square for a drink and then, as it was 7 pm, wanted to find somewhere to eat.Unfortunately, many of the restaurants were closed on Sundays.However, the place where we had our drinks in the Praca da Republica, was actually a hotel and our server told us the hotel restaurant around the corner was excellent.We decided to eat there and she wasn’t wrong.The Restaurante Pracawas perfect:  quiet, opulently decorated, and, for me at least, exactly what I needed after the stress of trying to find the hotel.I ordered the duck confit with a Duoro red wine and both were excellent.I did have an additional glass and, after dinner, a Muscatel but skipped dessert.My bill was €41 which, I thought for the quality of the food and wine, was excellent.Luckily, our hotel was on the same street less than a block away so that made the walk back easy.                  

Our complimentary serving of Marisco soup, 
a mild fish soup

                                      

In the morning, after breakfast, we went up to the Convent of Christ to get a closer look.  It was already crowded with tour buses and neither of us particularly wanted to stop long enough to park and tour it.  I did get some photos of the nearby aqueduct, the old castle and the views.

Our destination that day was Elvas - not Elvis!The drive there was through completely different landscape than the previous day.There was a lot of agricultural land, charming villages, and olive groves and cork forests dotted the hills.Apparently, it is illegal to cut down a cork tree in Portugal even on your own property.       

Elvas is another World Heritage Site because it is among the finest examples of intensive usage of the trace italienne (star fort) in military architecture.  It was designated a World Heritage Site in June 2012.  Elvas lies on a hill 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of the Guadiana River. The Amoreira Aqueduct, 6 kilometres long, supplies the city with clean water and was begun early in the 15th century and completed in 1622.  The site, extensively fortified from the 17th to 19th centuries, represents the largest bulwarked dry ditch system in the world. Within its walls, the town contains barracks and other military buildings as well as churches and monasteries.  Below is an aerial image of the town to help understand the type of fortress Elvas is.

Our hotel, Hotel Dom Luis, was on the outside of the city walls and modern.  It was, unlike yesterday, very easy to find.  Further, it was easy to get a photo of the aqueduct, including from my hotel window!

We arrived not long after 2 pm and, after we’d checked in, we took a taxi into the old town to the main square – Praca Republica – and sat in the main square and had a drink.John wandered off to see some things and I continued to sit in the sun and people watch.It was lovely!     

We continued to sit there for another hour and, by then, we needed to figure out somewhere to eat – not easy on Monday and Tuesdays in Portugal by all accounts.  We wandered around, found nothing, then stopped for another drink – I had a ginger and peach organic soda by a company called Why Not.  It was tasty and a nice change from wine. 

We tried other eating options but gave up.  John called the hotel and they said there was a good restaurant right next door to the hotel so we walked down the hill, rested for a bit and then headed to Alcala and Sky Lounge.  Unfortunately, the menu was in Portuguese and Spanish (we are very close to the border) but no English.  My Google Translate app wasn’t helping much either.  However, I managed to figure out one item was a roast lamb shoulder – I wasn’t expecting the whole shoulder! – and I ordered that with fries.  It was okay but missing some green vegetables, in fact, any kind of colour!  I did order a lemon meringue dessert which was quite lovely as the meringue had been flambeed.  That with dinner and wine was €40 with a good tip.  Prices are certainly cheaper here than home and even in Turkey!!   

The next day, our first destination was Evora, about 2 hours away.  The sky was much cloudier than it had been the previous few days but, regardless, the landscape was lovely – forests and farmlands with crops and livestock.  We saw a castle in the distance, Casas de Juromenha, and drove up into the village to check it out.  There were some great views from the top of the hill, over what looked to be a flooded river and, in the distance, more agricultural lands.  

We continued on to Evora and John wanted to drive around the walls and into the town.  Some of the alleys were very narrow.  We did get to see the Roman gate and the aqueduct.  As it was still pretty cool (16’) and parking seemed to be a challenge, we both decided it would be best to just head back to Azeitao.  

The drive, except for some seriously potholed roads early on, was pretty straightforward.  Certainly, on the autoroute it was simple and not too crowded.  On the A2, the most impressive site was the myriads of stork nests in the power line towers.  I managed to get a few photos from the car as we were going along at 120 km!  I always think of them as birds you see in Alsace (they are everywhere there) but, on this trip, I saw lots nesting in Rabat and here near Lisbon.  

We got back to John’s place by just before 2 which was great as I was ready to start thinking about packing!  April 2nd, we left their home and, while our initial plan had been to go to Seisembra for a seaside lunch, the weather wasn’t cooperating – it had been raining and had turned a lot cooler.  Instead, we headed to Palmela, a town on a hill topped with the Castelo de Palmela.  We had a nice lunch at Culto Panoramico, a very  modern restaurant with sweeping views toward Lisbon.  We both ordered a risotto but different kinds, mine was camembert, peaches and proscuitto while John’s was seafood.  The interior was a stark contrast from all the medieval buildings we’d been seeing!  We drove up to the castle parking lot where we had beautiful views toward Setubal and the sea.  

From there, Lisbon airport not that far away where I’d booked a hotel for my last night because of my early morning departure.  In the lounge in the morning, I had my last pastel de nata and some orange juice before boarding my flight to Frankfurt.  That flight and the subsequent ones to Vancouver and Victoria all went smoothly.  Door to door was about 22 hours, a lot better than last November which was 36+ hours!

And, with that, my wonderful vacation was over.  Before I'd left home, I wondered how much I was going to enjoy this trip.  As it turned out, it was absolutely wonderful.  I'd seen so many new places and learned so much but, without question, what made it so special was all the wonderful people I'd met - not only on the cruise but also while I was staying with John and Pedro.  I'd had an amazing time.  Next up:  more planning for my fall vacation!