Tomar Testimony

We caught the train about 400 kilometres north to Tomar watching the countryside change from flat and dry with lots of Cork Oaks, to greener and hillier with more intense agriculture.

Cork growing must be the ultimate slow agriculture experience. Plant a cork tree. Wait 25 years. Get first harvest, which will not be up to scratch. Wait another 9 years for next harvest (which also may not be). Repeat.

It is a most pleasant little town, hugging the banks of the River Nabao, with weirs regulating the water and parks for the inhabitants to enjoy themselves. Away from the river, the old town is very picturesque, although it was a little quiet when we wandered through - and stopped for a drink - on a Saturday afternoon.

It also has the Convento de Cristo, a stone fortress towering above the town.

Constructed from 1118 by the Knights Templar, it was controlled and improved by them (between fighting crusades and seeing off the Moors) until 1357, when the Order of Christ completed a “friendly takeover” initiated by Pope Clement I in 1312. The Order of Christ continued in occupation until the tourist industry demanded another historic site on top of a hill but with good bus parking.

We walked up the hill, paid our 3 euros each (seniors discount; disappointingly they rarely seem to ask for proof of age) and wandered through cloister after cloister and room after room. It was an interesting few hours, and the round church was quite spectacular.

The Festival of Iria, celebrating the virgin Saint Iria’s drowning and subsequent reappearance downriver in a marble tomb, took place the day we were in Tomar. We wandered around the crowded amusement park and market area, all set by the side of the river and full of happy, laughing Tomarites. We also made our way up the pedestrianised, cobbled main street of the old town, had a drink and thought about anywhere else we could remember going to where the shops were shut on a Sunday.Read more