I was so bored I had to start doing something, so I decided to visit 3 places in 5 hours. It was a bit tough but I managed to do it anyway 😉 Oh, and my parents came with me, for the very first time.
We got to São Jorge’s field at around 11.00am just to see the place where the Aljubarrota battle took place, and allow me to say, what a disappointment! I wasn’t expecting to see dead bodies and 50.000 men fighting, but come on! Not even a tourist information plaque? As far as I know they kept building houses in that battlefield and built a museum, dedicated to the portuguese victory, right in the middle of it! It’s absolutely ridiculous! And by the way, it’s closed! (Oh yes, it’s closed for 3 years now, thats what someone told me). Portugal…always leaving historical places like this behind. (See the picture of the battlefield below…it’s realllllllly difficult to picture a battle there!)
A bit of history? In the 13th of August of 1385, 40.000 Castilians invaded Portugal. Not that of a happy ending for the Spanish…we smashed them! 🙂 This was what was later considered the most important battle in the history of Portugal.
The light effects inside the Batalha’s Monastery (built to celebrate the Portuguese victory) makes it beautiful and almost unreal. As to the architecture, beautiful as every single historic monument in Portugal.
We then went to Alcobaça’s Monastery, the first Gothic monument in Portugal. This was pretty special because I absolutely adore D. Inês de Castro love story 😛 and I was able to see her tomb for the first time, as well as her husband’s, D. Pedro I (king of Portugal). The story is a bit tragic but oh well…hard times.
Here’s the most interesting things to see inside the monastery: 1) the Capítulo room, 2) the monks chambers and 3) the huge kitchen chimney.
And this was pretty much it. Very interesting indeed but not that different form the monuments one can find in England.
Hope to travel a bit more around Lisbon before I go back to Coventry! Stay tuned 😉
Pictures (from top to bottom): Aljubarrota battlefield (Campo de São Jorge), Batalha’s Monastery, inside Batalha’s Monastery, Alcobaça Monastery, D. Inês de Castro tomb.
See more of Batalha . See more of Alcobaça