MAFRA PALACE

Built in the ^18th century, this baroque and neoclassical complex houses a palace, a basilica, a convent and a sumptuous library. It took 13 years (1717-1730) and over fifty thousand workers to build, following the megalomaniac plans of German architect Friedrich Ludwig. Admire the pink, red, black and white marble basilica, its dizzying dome (70 m high), the six organs and the chapels that can be visited from the counter-alleys. Outside, you'll notice fourteen statues of saints with disproportionately large hands. The tour itself begins with a central corridor leading to the chapel: the flagstones you walk on are numbered tombs... which then lead to the pharmacy, then to the hospital.

The convent. Franciscan monks' cells: a bed made of two planks of wood, with a gap in the middle for the spine, a rudimentary desk and, on the floor, a washbasin. On the first floor, just beyond the hospital, the penitential room sets the tone: a wooden bed with a skull halfway up; on the wall, the instruments themselves - whip, rope with stone... O Jansenism! In the middle of the convent, a circular communal table with linked chairs. But most surprising of all is the only painting in this bare room (there are few works of art or furniture in the palace, since most were taken away by Dom João VI and the royal family in 1799 before the French invasion). It depicts a monk in penitence.

But let's get to the palace! That is, the 250-meter-long avenue of pink-and-white marble, with its open-plan rooms. In the middle of this veritable boulevard, on one side large windows look out onto the interior of the basilica; on the other, the palace windows open out onto the sea... Next is the hunting room, decorated with trophies of deer and wild boar killed in the region, and furnished with chairs made entirely of deer antlers and skins. The visit ends with the sublime and impressive library, one of the largest in Europe (40,000 volumes), discreetly Baroque: a vertigo of Babel in the shape of a cross. The main aisle is longer than the basilica itself!

In the palacegarden, you can admire owls and falcons. The Ambifalco association offers you the chance to spend an hour in the shoes of a falconer, interacting with these superb birds. A very interesting visit in every respect.