Tomar and Fatima

A great sleep, lazy wake-up, freshen up and breakfast then off to Tomar on route to Fatima.

Tomar was originally an order of the Knights Templar, and the fortification known as the Convent of Christ and considered one of the greatest works of the Portuguese Renaissance. It sits high on the hill above the village.   We had a funny moment……..we couldn’t find the route up and so we walked around the village looking for the entrance.  A very old woman, looking out her window, called down to us…..she pointed up to the castle and seemed to ask us if that was where we were going.  We, not speaking a word of Portuguese, nodded “yes”!!!  She pointed at a tiny winding road and motioned for us to go up and so, up we went.  About four kms or so into this upward journey, all the while battling rain showers, I turned to Marc and Laurie and told them that the old woman was probably all toasty warm in her apartment cackling and saying, “the silly buggers believed me”!!!!!!!    Happily, she did not send us astray.

This doorway was very close to where we parked the car. I loved it.

A tiny old church we visited before making our way up the hill.

Convento de Cristo high above the town. What a wonderful visit this turned out to be.

Just to give you an idea of how far we were from our destination and how far we walked.

This lovely patch of iris was directly in our path on route.

Finally we arrive at the gates.

We totally enjoyed this visit…..tiles, arches, nooks and crannies.

Tell me they don’t look happy??

Everywhere you turned there was a photo opportunity.

These were built into the wall.

This statue was marvelous.

Beautiful statuary.

It was impossible to take it all in. I had to stand in one spot and slowly turn, around and around and around.

Just look at all the colour and detail.

Gorgeous detail

Part of the exterior as seen from one of the windows.

This was high on the building wall.

And, I love the gargoyles.

Gargoyle

Gargoyle

I can honestly say the three of us totally enjoyed our wandering in this old town and certainly the Convento de Cristo.  The town is lovely, many pedestrian streets and on this particular day, quiet.   We must have spent about three or four hours wandering then the inevitable…..lunch……

We found an Italian restaurant with a wood burning stove…..Marc and I both had this chicken broccoli pizza

Laurie enjoyed this olive, mushroom and salami pizza. We were not disappointed and had a wonderful time with our waitress.

From here we headed on to Fatima, about another 45 minutes.  The town is not much, hotel after hotel but it is home to the Sanctuary of Fátima, a Catholic pilgrimage site.  Personally, I didn’t have any specific expectation but…….it was worth the stop.

We checked into our hotel for the next two nights then walked the 20 minutes or so to the Sanctuary.  I won’t caption the photos as they speak for themselves.  It was tranquil, elegant and all three of us expressed that we were happy to have seen it.

The rain kept coming on and off to keep us company and the wind had come up.  We headed back to the hotel, sat in the bar and enjoyed a glass of champagne (me) and red wine (Marc and Laurie) then finally, headed out for dinner.    We found a place that had these wonderful copper grills whereby you prepared your own meat and they supplied all the condiments.  Pleasurable and fun, it was a great way to wind down another fabulous day of wandering.

Our copper cook top…..Marc enjoyed beef while Laurie and I devoured a huge platter of turkey.

Our waiter was more than happy to take a snap!

Laurie had a baked apple

Marc enjoyed this dense delicious chocolate torte

Me,not sweet tooth but I do love a fruit salad from time to time.

And finally, during our wanderings……we saw this and how could we NOT take a photo.