Day 5 daytrip adventure to Alcobaca & Batalha.

Today the weather was nice in the morning and early afternoon with intermittent sun and cloud, clouding over later in the afternoon, temps from 17-19ish most of the day.

On the road to town of Alcobaca (municipal pop 56k). Alcobaca is about 25min drive from Sao Martinho. Alcobaca is most famous for a striking, beautiful monastery. The town also has quaint streets and a site of castle ruins that overlooks the town and monastery. There are other interesting sites and a few museums as well in Alcobaca.

We did a self guided tour of the monastery, with exception of the chapel which is a guided tour. We bought a three monastery ticket, for Alcobaca, Batalha and Tomar, good for 1 year. We bought it expecting to visit these other sites.

The monastery was truly stunning, in architecture and scale. The monastery was founded in the 12 century by King Alfonso 1. Its’ founding is closely associated with the beginning of the Portuguese monarchy. It is a Unesco World Heritage site. The site is described as one of the most magnificent gothic monuments in the country. In the church are the tombs of Pedro and Ines, a famous couple in Portuguese history.

After our visit to the monastery (probably about 2+ hours), we sought out a nearby place for lunch. Found a really nice restaurant about a block from the monastery, down a nearby street. The place was called “Meat”. We looked at the menu and it had a lunch special. We were directed to seating upstairs. There were locals eating in the street level and upstairs, but upstairs was quieter. The waitress did not speak great english but luckily we were seated beside a very nice Portuguese couple that helped. We struck up a conversation with them after they offered help ordering. They confirmed the place had good food and the lunch special was really good value. They are from Alcobaca, but have visited Vancouver and do remote online translation work for people in Toronto that they have never met. The woman also works in a local optical and offered if we need any info after lunch just drop in her (and her parents) store. They were asking us about our stay and they explained some items about the town. They were lifelong residents of the town and it was clear they were very proud of their city.

We ordered hamburgers with cheese, tomato and lettuce, a side of fries as well as a soup starter with choice of drink ( beer, wine, water or soft drink) and coffee for 6.5euro each (and remember tax included and no tip really required - we usually still leave 10-15% in Portugal). It was a really great burger and lunch!

Here are some pictures from Alcobaca.

Castle ruins in foreground….

Displays along the river of local made ceramics in plexiglass cases….

Before leaving for to drive to Batalha we decided to try a famous local dessert. It is like a small custard cone but filled with orange coloured cream. Very tasty.

We then drove on to Batalha. There we did another self guided tour of its’ monastery site. It has a lots of similarities to Alcabaca. From the outside it is stunning again. The exterior walls have a dripping of what looks like mold on then giving it a unique look.