Portugal-Amsterdam 2022 - #10 - Tomar - The Henry The Navigator Spectacular

Back in the days of the Crusades a number of chivalrous orders came into being (the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Order of Saint James, the Order of Calatrava, and the Teutonic Knights, etc.). The basic principle was the knightly/warrior caste pledged itself to the cause of gaining the holy land/Jerusalem back for Christianity. However things didn't always work out exactly as planned. Take the Knights Templar. They discovered finance. Within a century of being formed, 90% of members were no longer warriors but were people involved in their financial operations. They became incredibly rich. And like the Jews, who were often the source of banking in the Middle Ages, the Templars came to be mistrusted. This led to a French King, Phillip IV, who was way in debt to them, to arrange with the Pope to have the lot of them round up, forced into confessions and burned at the stake. 

For other Templars in other countries, although the order was banned, they manged to morph themselves into other forms. Enter Prince Henry the Navigator. If you are not a historian, celebrity or otherwise, I suggest you go to the link and get some background on Prince Henry. It was his efforts that had a major influence on the rise of Portuguese exploration and colonization in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Now what does all this have to do with our destination of the day - Tomar. According to our guidebook (our very, very disappointing guidebook), is the site where the Portuguese Templar morphed into the Hospitaller order. And Prince Henry, a member of the order, had a convent built. The end.

Not the end. For this 'convent', was not for women, it was for the order and it was the place where Prince Henry made his base for 40 years and was one of those spectacular places we find during our adventures that seem to come out of nowhere.

Let's explore via Photos

Coming into the town of Tomar, one finds a relatively modest Plaza

Here we find a number of repeating themes from de-I travel

Renovation of noted places to visit

Statues of the famous and powerful

Serving as bird resting places

Then through a round of eminently sound logic that proves to be completely flawed later on, we decided to make our way up to the Convent and the castle that is at the same locale. When I say 'Up', I mean climb a long as way 'Up'. Wife and I are quickly realizing as we are halfway there that one could actually drive to the top

Sample of parking lot that could have saved A Lot of Steps!

We are thinking "this is a long way to go to just see another Medieval castle ruin"

We finally meet up with our guide who to put it mildly was a bit impatient with how long it took us to schlepp up.

But she takes us on where we meet her cohort

Upon entering the complex, we find to our astonishment this incredible structure that is a combination of Medieval Fortress and Gothic Cathedral melded into one!

As always with the Gothic architecture, there are these lovely examples of detail way the heck up where you would think no one would place them. These two com from the top of the archway above.

Then into the 'Convent' itself which turns out to be this great work of architectural balance and art.

The tile work was three dimensional trompe d'oeil 

Then into the convent chapel

A doorway considered to be a supreme example of late Gothic decoration

Moving to inner courtyards more influenced by the Renaissance

SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Flee!

Barbarian Chariots are after you!

Seen on the way up...where was this assistance for our climb?

Small people playing piano with their feet ahead

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