Editor’s note: like many visitors to Portugal, my time there has been focused on Lisbon and Porto. The part in between is a blank spot. But today, Sam helps us all fill that in with this awesome look at some stunning monasteries. For more of Sam’s writing, click here to visit his index page.

While it had not been high on my radar prior to going, I have often thought back fondly to my visit to Portugal. When people have asked me if I could live anywhere outside the United States where I would go, I have regularly responded Portugal. While I have already written about the charming capital of Lisbon, and the daytrips to the beautiful towns of Evora, Obidos, Cascais, and Sintra, one day I hopped around the holy monastery towns of central Portugal, and fell even more in love with the country.

For this tour, I went to four historic towns with their UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Alcobaca, Batalha, Fatima, and Tomar. Though these four towns are all within a 75 minute drive and 45 miles of each other, visiting them all was a very action-packed day, one that required an early start. Though there are tours that leave from Lisbon, I decided to stay in the romantic village of Obidos, an hour north of Lisbon and half an hour south of Alcobaca the night before to help me get an early jump on my trip. Alcobaca is the home to the Alcobaca Monastery, founded in 1153 by Portugal’s first king, Afonso Henriques. The monastery is considered to be the first Gothic building in Portugal, with the rose window and much of the church’s façade dating back to the 13th century, while the Baroque towers are from the 18th century. The monastery, by 1300, was the wealthiest in Portugal and home to 1000 monks. The nave of the church is dramatic and striking, but the highlight of the monastery is its cloister, the area surrounding a quiet courtyard and garden. Throughout much of the monastery, the Moorish influence of the time and place is evident with its many archways. There are also several sarcophagi of royals and nobility in the church, with intricate designs carved into marble. The most famous sarcophagi are of King Pedro I and his mistress Ines de Castro. Pedro I’s father did not approve of their courtship, and after numerous failed attempts to break the two up, had Ines murdered. Upon becoming king, Pedro I had Ines exhumed, posthumously declared her queen, and, according to legend, forced the courtiers to kiss her decomposing hand. Pedro then had two of her three executioners hunted down and publicly executed by removing their hearts, claiming they had none as they had torn out his. Kind of romantic, I guess?

Following a couple hours in Alcobaca, I headed to Batalha’s jaw-dropping monastery. Batalha’s monastery was the most impressive one that I saw in Portugal. It is a Gothic structure with a highly imposing façade. Construction began in 1386 as a dedication to the Virgin Mary, to thank her for intervening in a military victory the year prior, but was not completed until 1517, spanning the reign of seven kings. In front of the church is a giant statue of Nuno Alvares Pereira on horseback, the general who ensured Portugal’s independence in the war of 1385. The carvings and designs in this monastery are so precise and intricate that this monastery leaves an impression apart from all others. The spires of the monastery also rise into the air, making the monastery look like a castle, and the façade has worn into blacks and beiges, resembling the Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany. Inside the monastery are cloisters, gardens, and open-air courtyards with the spires towering above, most notably that of the unfinished chapel. There is also a large nave and a tall, beautiful dome inside the church. Throughout the complex, especially in the Founders’ Chapel, are tombs of royalty, and in one room is an honor guard standing at attention over Portugal’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Monastery of Batalha  is one of the most magnificent structures I have seen in Europe, so after your visit, I recommend grabbing lunch across the plaza from the monastery so that you can continue to admire it while you eat.

Down the road, east of Batalha, is the town of Fatima. Fatima is where the famous sighting of Our Lady of Fatima occurred in 1917. In this town, 10 year old Lucia dos Santos and her two younger cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, claimed to witness multiple visions of the Virgin Mary, in which Mary told Lucia to learn to read and write to spread the word of Jesus. Though Lucia was beaten and ridiculed for “lying,” she refused to recant and the Catholic Church found her accounts worthy of belief. Lucia became a nun and lived until 2005, dying at the age of 97, while her cousins sadly died at age 9 and 10 during the 1920 Spanish Flu. Pope Francis canonized Francisco and Jacinta, making them the youngest saints, while Sister Lucia has since been beatified on her way to sainthood. Today, the place where the visions took place is a major center of Catholic pilgrimage, attracting 6 to 8 million pilgrims a year, some crawling to the shrine on their knees. In the shrine, there are two minor basilicas, and several small chapels, where televised services take place. The interior of the basilica can fit 9000 people, while the plaza outdoors can seat 300,000 worshippers. Honestly, the shrine here is not as impressive as the other three towns to visit on this day; however, it is still neat to come and spend an hour walking around of what has become one of the most significant religious places in Catholicism in the 20th century.

Finally, the last town I visited on the full day journey was Tomar, by far the most beautiful city of the day’s stops. Tomar has been compared to Jerusalem and Rome, as it is built on seven hills. Like Obidos, it has beautiful, flowery, white painted pedestrian streets and homes. The Nabão River runs through the middle of the town with small, tiered waterfalls, providing for a nice park and riverwalk. The town of Tomar is significant as well if you are into Jewish history, as the city has a preserved 15th century synagogue that was built in the pre-Renaissance Gothic-style in 1460. Though not particularly large, the synagogue has been maintained well, especially given that Tomar’s Jewish population was expelled in 1496 as part of the ethnic cleansing of Jews on the Iberian Peninsula during the Inquisition. A museum named for the Jewish royal astronomer, Abraham Zacuto, is dedicated to the history of the Jews of Tomar and the region, which dates back to the 13th century. There are old ritual objects and tombstones from the time period that are in the museum, and it is well worth visiting. While as a rabbi, the small synagogue and Jewish museum was what put Tomar on my radar, for most people it is the 12th century Convento de Cristo built by the Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar were a French Catholic military brigade that swore allegiance to the Pope over a 200 year period beginning in 1118. The castle and church that make up the convent have similar designs and styles as the monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha, with similar carvings and architecture in the Gothic style. However, the building is a 16-sided polygon that is similar in design to the Mosque of Umar and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It is built on top of a hill, which gave the castle a strategic position over the Arab armies that tried to attack it. However, the structure is not just Gothic, but as it was added onto later, it has Romanesque, Renaissance, and popular Portuguese Manuelian-style designs too. The Manuelian style is evident in some of the decoration that is designed to look like ship ropes during the Age of Discovery. Throughout the church and castle are numerous Gothic-era paintings depicting Christian religious tales, and biblically inspired carvings on columns. The convent also has eight cloisters with gardens and other places for reflection and tranquility.

Following the packed day, I drove 2.5 hours down and stayed in Evora; however, if you have more time, spend the night in either Tomar or Santarem, the main town just south of Tomar. While it often feels like Spain gets the bulk of the attention in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the primary focus for the Age of Discovery and expansion of Catholicism, the towns in central Portugal make it clear that Portugal has made its stamp on the culture and history of the region, as well as its artistic and religious development. Though most people who visit Portugal are attracted to the excitement of Lisbon, the castles of Sintra, the beaches of Cascais, and the wine of Porto, make sure not to skip over these towns; while not world-renowned, they are some of the best attractions that Portugal has to offer and are not overcrowded like the Sintra and Lisbon castles and monasteries.

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