Convento de Cristo and other Tomar, Portugal Things to Do Tips

This is by far the town's biggest draw, and one of the must see sights of Portugal, let alone Tomar. It is the former headquarters of the famous (possibly infamous) Knights Templar, and as such reflects the vast amount of wealth and power they accrued from their crusading exploits, and subsequent money lending enterprises. As the Knights Templar were both a Christian and Militaristic order, so the convent is both a religious and military centre. The convent part of the complex is a round church, focused around the magnificent central Charola.

Unfortunately when I was there the Charola, like much of the best sights in Portugal right now, was under reconstruction. There was an ugly piece of draped over scaffolding blocking the entrance to the inner circle, and a number of the paintings appeared to have been taken from the walls for restoration. Unlike Tomar the convent was crawling with tourists, most of whom seemed to be French. I am guessing that the recent success and controversy of the Da Vinci Code novel has sparked an interest in that country for the Knights Templar in particular.

I really enjoyed walking around the convent and imagining what it must have been like to have been there back when the likes of Prince Henry the Navigator would have been wandering around its hallowed halls. I buried myself away in a quiet corner of the two storied nave adjoining the central Charola. It was totally quiet there due to it being strangely overlooked by the other tourists as they were drawn to the painted Charola like bees to a flower. There I sat in the snug of a and on the cool stone benches tucked away from the main hall to give privacy. Here I imagined the furtive, perhaps even heretical, discussions of the Templar monks from centuries earlier.

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Directions: You can't miss the convent on the hill above the town. Just walk towards it and take any of the roads leading up the hill.

The Templar Castle is part of the entire convent complex, but unlike the convent you can visit it for free. The walls offer amazing views of the town, the best you can find anywhere, but they are a little difficult to find your way up to them. I almost missed them. If I hadn't doubled back on my way out of the convent and made a determined effort to discover how people were getting up onto them I might have missed out. To your right as you enter the castle walls and walk towards the convent, there is a path that winds behind some bushes and leads up and over the main entrance. Once you are on that path you can walk the entire length of the walls that remain as the encircle the convent and the castle gardens.

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The Templar complex is completed by the Castle Gardens. In summer they offer some cool respite from the blistering heat in the shadow of the trees, but the grass was so dry when I was there it didn't look very lush and appealing. There were some wonderfully colourful flowering bushes, though.

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Up on the hill a short walk from the Templar complex the Renaissance Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao was intended as the funerary chapel for Portugal's King Joao III, who died in 1557. Due to political events he ended up being buried in Lisbon instead, and so the chapel remained as a reminder of Tomar's apex of greatness. Instead of historical significance, the chapel makes do with a geographical one. It's location on the far side of the hill from the convent gives it a view of the town below that is as good as from the walls of the Templar Castle itself.

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Directions: Exiting the convent, take a left across the car park and head up the road towards the chapel. Beware of crazy Portuguese drivers careening down the hill.

Dipping its wooden slats into the waters of the slow moving Rio Nabao is this great waterwheel, a possibly unintentional reminder of Portugal's Moorish past in this Crusader town.

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Directions: The waterwheel is on the bridge at the entrance to the Parque do Mouchao, off the Av. da Marques de Tomar.

It's hard to believe that one of Portugal and Europe's most important and historic cities was once a huddle of houses surrounded by impenetrable swamp land, but taking a look at the indolent waters of the River Nabao as it ambles through the town on a hot summer's afternoon and you can see back a thousand years or more. Seen here in the picture, taken between the cool and relaxing Parque do Mouchao and the elegant Ponte Velha, the river looks more like a still pond than a flowing waterway.

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Crossing the Rio Nabao from and carrying a heavy traffic load from the old town to the new is the Ponte Velha. It's pretty rather than historic, but it makes for a major and recognisable landmark in the town center. Adjoining the bridge on the far side of the river are the crumbling white walls of the Capela de Santa Iria.

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Directions: Walk down Rua Serpa Pinta away from the convent on the hill.

The Church of St John the Baptist is the most striking building in all of central Tomar, and easily discernable from the castle walls on the hill. It was built between the 15th and 16th centuries and has a mix of Manueline and Gothic styles topped by a distinctive octagonal belfry.

Inside the church I met Erve, who gave me a personal tour of the church in excellent English, and with a solid knowledge of the history of the church. He pointed out aspects of the church that I would never have noticed on my own, such as the one pillar that differed from all the others, thus showing it was part of the original 11th century construction. He discussed with me the Knights Templar, their history, and their role in, and impact on, the development of the town and Portugal as a whole. It was a very fascinating and helpful tour.

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Directions: In the Praca da Republica.

Opposite the Igreja de Sao Joao Baptista across the checkerboard Prace da Republica is the Camara Municipal (Town Hall). This building is now only used for the more mundane tasks of administrating a small rural town, but once it housed the King of Portugal himself and was the seat of a great regional power.

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Directions: In the Praca da Republica.

Tucked away in a side street of Rua Infataria is the old Jewish Sinagogue, now home to the Museo Luso-Hebraico Abraham Zacato. The synagogue is the tiniest I have ever seen, but historically very significant. For a few years after the poisonous Spanish expulsion of the Jews many found shelter in Portugal, setting up in towns and cities like Tomar.

The treatment of the Jewish by the Spanish was particularly viscious and caused a devastating diaspora that saw Sephardic Jews ending up in countries as disparate and as distant as the Netherlands, Turkey, and Morocco, where they sought a safer life. Some of the crimes committed against them were induced by insidious rumours, such as that they were smuggling out gems in their stomachs, which inevitably led to many a brutal murder from greedy bandits.

Unfortunately only a few years after the Spanish exodus, the Portuguese government followed suit and insisted upon the forced conversion or expulsion of all Jews and Muslims in the country. Those who chose to remain became the focus of the Spanish Inquisition, who sought to test the newly converted for their faith. The methods for determining the faith of the new converts have made the Spanish Inquisition infamous, and a byword for medieval ignorance and brutality.

Despite the interesting history of the Jewish people in Iberia, the museum itself isn't all that much. As I said, the synagogue is small and doesn't contain a great deal. Even if you are interested in Jewish history in Europe, which I am, you won't find much to enthrall you here. That said, there's not a lot else to do in the town of Tomar after you've been to the convent, so poke your head around the door and say hello to the friendly owner.

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Directions: Walk down Rua Infantaria from the Praca da Republica and take a left down Rua Dr. Joaquim Jacinto. The museum is a tiny building, easily missed, on your right.