Mafra

Leave Lisbon on the A8 (blue toll road) heading northwest. After about 20 kilometers take the turnoff to Malveira. From there, follow signs for another 11 kilometers to Mafra, a small village that is home to the Convento de Mafra, one of Portugal’s most impressive national monuments, a 40,000-square-meter monastery. Built in the 18th century by King João V, it is reminiscent of the 16th-century Escorial in Spain, having been intentionally designed to surpass it in grandeur. It took some 50,000 workers 13 years to complete (1717–1730). The basilica occupies the center of the 240-meter façade and is impressive in its proportions. The vestibule contains a number of huge marble statues of saints. The palace and the monastery can be visited (except Tuesdays) by guided tours, which take you through the 90 rooms and apartments. Especially noteworthy is the baroque library housing 36,000 volumes, as well as religious manuscripts on parchment. Behind the building is the Tapada Nacional, a national park encircled by a 19-kilometer-long wall, which was originally the royal hunting grounds. The entire complex is a monument to the power of the Portuguese throne in its heyday, when Brazilian gold flowed into the national coffers.