Entrance to Convento de Cristo
Convento de Cristo is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the municipality of Tomar. The place is the outskirts of the city and back then it was probably a good place to set up a monastery since it was far enough from the city but still accessible. In fact, if you go here first, you probably won’t realize how close you actually were. Convento de Cristo is a mix of contrasting structures and convent and a fortress. The templar knights established the convent and later were accorded ownership and it became their base. The structure was fortified to the fortress we see now.
Imiposing Walls of Convento de Cristo
From the outside one can already feel that there is something special about this place. One of the gates into the fortress is richly decorated with Manueline design. I was hard to describe what Manueline design actually is but I think I can now tell just by looking at it. In some ways, it is even more flamboyant than gothic. It is probably hard to imagine a fortress needing to be designed in such an extravagant manner. It would have been a shame if invaders targeted them. Fortunately, the fortress was strong enough to repel invasions including one from the Moors.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/ConventodeCristo.kmz} zoom=19]