Tomar is home to one of the largest monasteries in the world. Founded in 1162 by the Grand Master of the Temple in Portugal, Gualdim Pais the Convent of Christ still preserves memories of those knight monks and their heirs in office, the Order of Christ, who made this building its headquarters. Under the infant Henry the Navigator, master of the order since 1418, the cloisters were built between the ambulatory and the Templar fortress, but the greatest modifications were made in the reign of John III of Portugal (1529-1557). Architects such as Juan de Castillo and Diogo de Arruda will seek to express the power of the Order by building the church that will reach its maximum splendor in the main doorway signed by Juan de Castillo and the two windows on the western façade, the lower one by Arruda and the upper one by Castillo, and the cloisters, two of them Gothic and six in the Renaissance style designed by Juan de Castillo.
The Convent of Christ, in Tomar, Portugal, belonged to the Order of the Temple and is one of the main monuments of Portuguese architecture. The varied set that makes up the Convent of Christ was built between the 12th and 17th centuries, having undergone successive adaptations that reflected the different types of use it housed and the stylistic characteristics of the architecture of the different historical moments, sharing Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Renaissance, Mannerist and so-called floor styles.
Upon entering you can see two cloisters, one the Lavagem cloister, with simple Gothic arches and white and blue tiles, the other the cemetery cloister with pointed arches and double columns. These two cloisters belong to extensions of the convent. There is also the new sacristy.
Then you will go to see the tray that is the nucleus of the monastery is the tray (ambulatory) of the twelfth century, the Oratório dos Templários and is decorated with spectacular paintings that reflect the power and wealth of the order of the temple in Portugal.
From there you go to see the main cloister, of the Felipes, in homage to Felipe II who was married to a Portuguese queen and it was the period in which Spain had all the domains of Portugal.
This cloister connects with others such as that of Santa Barbara, that of the Hospiedería, which is one of the most recent and of less value, the Micha cloister where the bread oven is located, the das necessarias cloister and finally the dos corvos cloister, where there is the refectory, kitchen and storerooms.
With this, the entire monastery is made up, made up of 8 cloisters and a multitude of rooms and halls, being the largest in which it has been to date.

Not far from the fortress monastery, since it has the citadel that was built defensively since it was the headquarters of the Templar order, is the Pegoes aqueduct, ordered to be built by Felipe II to bring water to the monastery.
Once the visit was over, I would return to Toledo via Lisbon to pick up people and save my trip through Blablacar.
The town also has things to offer such as the church of Juan Bautista, that of Santa Maria del Olival, the chapel of San Gregorio, the Jewish quarter with its synagogue, and the town hall square.

Day 1, Toledo to Badajoz (CLICK to continue)

December 2, 2021