This morning
we enjoyed a leisurely time at our hotel.
It was nearly 10:00 by the time we had breakfast and were ready to leave
the hotel. The breakfast area is over the
river with beautiful vineyards across the river - a perfect way to begin the
day. Today we are leaving the beautiful Douro river valley and the Douro wine
country. As we left town we had to snap
another couple of photos around another corner – the scene just begged for
another photo. The sun was shining and
the weather was lovely, however we spent most of the day in the car.
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| Cherry Trees with the White Blossoms |
We are
making our way back toward Lisbon, as by Friday afternoon we are flying back to
Amsterdam. Portugal is not a large country
and if we had to, we could drive the whole way to Lisbon today, but we are only
going part of the way.
We have
selected to visit the city of Tomar as our final stop in Portugal. On the way
to Tomar we did take the long way around so we could see more of the eastern
part of the county. At first it was more
mountainous, and we kept climbing in altitude to a city that is the highest
point in Portugal. We even saw two
snowcapped mountain ranges. After we descended in altitude we came to the area
where there are terraced groves of cherry trees, which are currently in
bloom. One of the unique alcohol drinks
for which Portugal is known is Ginja, a sour cherry liquor. We have seen some cherry trees, but not the
quantity needed to produce the amount of liquor consumed.
The city of
Tomar has a monastery and castle - a UNESCO World Heritage site. We arrived
early enough this afternoon to visit the castle which will allow us to have a
more relaxing time tomorrow morning, before we drive to the airport.
Wow! This
Castle and Monastery is one huge complex. The nave of the chapel is one of the
most decorative and unique. We have seen
a lot of cathedrals, chapels, and churches on this trip. It is easy to see why
Tomar has the UNESCO designation.
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| Tomar Castle |
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| Tomar Cathedral |
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| Small Chapel |
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| Chapel Tiles |
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| Tile design in the Chapel |
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| Entering the Sanctuary |
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| One of the Cloisters |
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| Walkway around the Cloister |
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| Cafeteria Area for the Monks |
We did not
have a hotel when we came into Tomar so we asked one of the security personnel
at the Castle, which hotel she would recommend.
She told us about the ‘best’ they have.
Yes, it was very nice and yet the rate was reasonable. We are not in
high tourist season which has allowed us to enjoy very nice hotels at
reasonable rates.
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| Our Hotel |
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