Our first appointment of the day was to a ceramics factory where we had an entertaining and informative tour with a shop at the end. He described the various stages of manufacture, involving the staff at each stage.
We continued to the Alcobaça Cistercian Monestery.
As with other Cistercian monasterys, the church is both high and undecorated. Unlike our last visit to a Cistercian Monestery at La Thoronet, there was no singing this time.
The ornate tombs of King Pedro and Inêse de Castro who lived in the 14th century were in large room to the side. Pedro's father did not approve of Inês and had Inês killed. Pedro had her buried close to him when he died 14 years later. This is his tomb
The assassins are recorded on the feet of her tomb
From here, we continued to Fátima. This was a national holiday and everywhere was crowned. We stopped at a convent for lunch and then continued on, through crowds of people to the site of the shrine. Our bus managed to park quite close to the shrine area.
We saw many groups of children, all were wearing some sort of matching item: t-shirt and/or cap presumably for idenifcation in the crowd.
The square looking towards the closed Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima with the shrine on the left.
Inside the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima church.
Crowds at the shrine
Our final stop was the Batalha Monestery where there are tombs and memorials more kings and queens. The Monestery was built in the 14th century to remember the Portuguese victory at the battle of Aljubarrota.
A memorial to the Portuguese soldiers in the First World War is there also. It is always guarded.
This part of the Monestery is no longer in use although the garden in maintained.
The cloisters
The garden inside the cloisters
Our day ended with dinner and a walk by the sea.
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