Portugal-Amsterdam 2022 - #9 - The National Palace in Mafra - A Study In Excess

 During the 18th Century, the royal family of Portugal, having a freaking ton of residual wealth from all their colonizing of a couple of centuries earlier and no real wars of aggrandizement to spend it on had a brilliant idea. Let's build the biggest, most impractical, over stated example of Baroque architecture in Europe! And so they did. Even the online guide referred to it as a 'monument to Baroque excess'.

Wife and I have seen our share of Baroque excess so we were anxious to see how this Palacio stood up on the tastlessness scale. Having seen a plethora of bad Baroque architecture and art in Austria the bar was set pretty high. But I have to say just on the grandiosity scale, Mafra would rank up there.

When you see all the pictures understand that only about 25% of the Palacio is open to the public.

Team de-I prepares to take in all the glory of the Palacio Nationale

First let's visit the Royal Family 'Chapel'

You got a couple of organs in your royal church? We got SIX!

Just a couple of them

I was editing these pictures and granddaughter 3.1 (who was providing grandparent warming duty by sitting next to me - our rental's heating is out and it is not warm out) saw an extreme option for color saturation and asked me to save it. 

I don't know what it was about the Baroque period the produced so much mediocre art. However there were few pieces in the Chapel that were nicely done.

The detail on this lace work carved out of stone was pretty incredible.

The vast majority of the pieces of statuary had rather hackneyed religious expressions as their theme. But there was this one character in a crucifixion sculpture that cried real emotion.

Then it was off into the Palace itself - Yes. It's Big

A sampling of the Palace's art NOT consisting of royal aggrandizement

 

A rather unique piece commemorating the beheading of six evangelists who went to Morocco in the 17th century.

One of the few pieces that was secular and I really liked.

Then there was this cool game room 

An early pinball machine?

I don't even know what this is. Looks like a table version of croquet.

The 'salon' with the piano for that custom recital.

But even in this den of overdone iniquity there is a saving grace

THE ROOM OF HEADS!

I WANT ONE OF THESE!

Must...Have...Antler...Chandeliers!

An entire antler themed living room set? Who can live with out it?

Especially when you realize the couch has a Badger Head arm rest!

Forget what I said about the ostentatious nature of this Palace. This thing oozes class.

And the Piece de la Resistance?

The Bat Protected Library

I kid you not. This place has its own colony of bats that are let out at night to feed on insects that might destroy the books. A completely organic pest control system. You've reached the height of bat accomplishment if you are selected to be one of the library's bats!

The grandchildren and I were imagining how horrible it would be to to have the job of the King's book fetcher. For the library is as far away from the King's quarters as you could get on this tour. Imagine the King saying, "Pablo, go fetch me that book on Psalms to put me to sleep. Schlepp down all those hallways, get the book, get back to the King. "You know Pablo, maybe I should read something more historical?" Back you go. ARGH!

CULINARY INTERLUDE

SiL 3A is on the case and picked out another good restaurant.

Sopa - a seafood soup.

The upper dish is a casserole of monk fish 3A ordered with a baccalhao  (salt cod) dish that was essentially potatoes au gratin with the fish added. (For those not familiar, once salt cod is reconstituted it is actually very mild in flavor. It is a BIG deal in Portugal).

Signs of the World

Um...circulate but don't interrupt the circulation??????

Portugal-Amsterdam 2022 - #8 - Elvas & The Forte da Graca - An Epic Post!

You have heard how de-I has become so worldly, so well traveled, that things that enchant others (Gothic cathedrals, Roman ruins, Buddhist stupas, etc.) just draw a 'ho-hum'. So it takes something new to get de-I pumped. How about a Star Fort? A Star Fort you say? Yes. A Star Fort. Just how many Star Forts do you think de-I has seen in all his travels. Zero. That's right none. And what do you think de-I knows about Star Forts? Hah! You're wrong. A lot. de-I in his youth as a gung-ho military history buff. He know all about the development of the Star Fort as an answer to rise of gunpowder and cannons which rendered traditional Medieval fort construction obsolete. The Star Fort reduced the vertical height, gave walls angles which made them harder to hit with artillery shells. Walls were built so they were backed by earth which made them harder to penetrate. And these forts had all kinds of layers of defense in depth with moats and angles to create firing zones. So when I found out there was one of the best preserved star forts here in Portugal along the route we needed to go from first long stay to second long stay, I had to visit.

Welcome to the Forte da Graca

For those with a historical bent (even those who might be of a celebrity historical bent!), I suggest reading this fairly humorous history of the fort.

This model will give you a good idea of the fort's total layout

Entering the Castle

Wandering the Fort

 

 Detail on How the Model was Made

Looking down to the City of Elvas

Its Aqueduct

 

The Medieval Fort in the City

From the City looking back at the Fort

By the Medieval Castle

And looking at other parts of the fortified city

And taking in the Aqueduct up close

A Gastronomic Interlude 

The vast majority of the time when we travel, we do not research places to eat. We go into wherever we are at, sometimes checking Google ratings but often not. In many places, we have dined quite well this way. However dining here has been a real disappointment so far, hence the lack of foodie posts. Things have been bland, overcooked and dry. However, driving into Elvas after going to the fort and finding a place we ended up not only with a good meal but one of the most memorable dishes I have eaten in a long time. It was called Salad Forestiere but was like no version with that name I'd ever seen. It consisted of a bed of lettuce with three kinds of fruit carefully composed on the top (strawberries, apple and banana), peanuts, pine nuts and dried fruit were sprinkled on top. It was dressed with a very light dressing based on honey but not too sweet and then fresh basil. I don't even like fruit based dishes but this was over the top with each fruit ripe and all the flavors and textures in balance.

The clams in garlic were very good but nowhere near the salad in excellence

Signs of The World

Embrace your Inner Snake!