The richly decorated church of Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi is dedicated to Saint Antonius of Padova (1195-1231). As I have written previously, the saint’s real name was not Antonius and he was not from Padova either. He had in fact been born as Fernando Martins in the Portuguese city of Lisbon.…
The description of Tomar in our travel guide was particularly promising: a picturesque town in the shadow of a crusader castle and monastery perched on a hill. Since both the Convento de Christo and the Castelo dos Templários are listed as UNESCO World Heritage, we decided to take the car…
It was a pleasant drive to Alcobaça, a small town with a population of about 16.000. Alcobaça is home to Portugal’s largest church and the church was the main reason we came here. Just to the east of the church and monastery is a large car park with ample space…