What to visit in 2 days in the medieval city of Tomar, Portugal
Hey guys,
Last November, we spent two days in Tomar, a city in Santarém District, in our home country, Portugal. Tomar is full of history and this trip allowed us to get to know a little bit better our history.
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| Nature in Tomar; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
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| Tomar, Portugal; From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomar |
Tomar is a quite small Portuguese city located 130 km north of Lisbon. In the first day we wondered by the city and visited the Convent of Christ, an UNESCO Heritage site since 1983. Before talking a little bit about this convent, let us tell you that Tomar was founded in 1162 by Dom Gualdim Pais, the Grand Master of the Portuguese Knights.
The Knights Templar was an elite fighting force and semi-religious order that was founded in 1119, during the Crusades. Dom Gualdim Pais was in the service of the first King of Portugal, Dom Afonso Henriques and the legend says that the city was enforced after Dom Gualdim and his knights managed to defend the fortress of Tomar from the Moroccan invaders. For this reason, the city was awarded to the Order of Templars as a reward for their courage during the battle. So, Tomar is considered to be the headquarters of the Knights Templar Order during the Medieval times.
One main attraction is the Convent of Christ, which construction started in the XII century and finished in the XVIII century. It holds a wide variety of Architectural styles, being the Manueline style - a traditional architecture style that combines Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance - the most notorious.
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| Convent of Christ; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
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| Convent of Christ; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
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| Convent of Christ; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
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| Convent of Christ; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
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| Convent of Christ; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
Tomar was also the centre of Portuguese discoveries during the XV century. Almost all the maritime routes were planned within the walls of Tomar and the city was the place from which countries like Brazil were colonized.
There are several good hotels and hostels in the city. We decided to stay in a very cool hostel - Artistic Guest House -, located in the city centre. A really nice place to stay!
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| Us; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
What to eat
There's a very typical sweet from Tomar which has its origin in the Convent of Christ: fatias de Tomar, meaning Tomar slices. According to the legend, the slices were the favorite sweet of the nuns of the Convent. We tried them and we can say that they were reallyyyyy good!
We also had a meal in the medieval restaurant Taverna Antiqua and it was an amazing experience. The environment of the restaurant recreated the medieval ages: dark, with candles and ambience music. The food was also very good and was cooked with the ingredients available at the time: bread, cereals, meat and vegetables.
Visiting Tomar is a really must-go if you're planning to visit Portugal.
Share with us your thoughts!
Rita and André
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| André; Portra 400, Nikon F65 |
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