Day 1 Templars and temperature

Arrived in Tomar today to start the next Camino adventure. The train from Lisbon was slow but clean and the ticket booking system remarkably efficient. Got to Tomar around lunchtime to find that the heat meant I felt I was on the menu. Grilled Englishman is not an attractive dish but mad dogs and all that.

Tomar is the ancient seat of the Templars. When evil King Philip the Fair of France decided to crush the Templars because he had gone rather heavily over his credit card limit with them (and a bit of a massacre is a much better option than a CVA), the order went out from the Pope that the order should be suppressed throughout Europe. The Portuguese King, an ever practical type, thought this a bit unfair, so persuaded the local chapter to do a bit of re-branding. So the Templars in Portugal were disbanded one day, to be replaced by a very familiar bunch of blokes calling themselves the Order of Christ. Less bloody, and a nice poke in the eye for the French who weren‘t that fooled.

The monastery is magnificent, even in the heat. One of those churches that doubles as a castle up on a hilltop.

Inside the church the architects had decided to go for one of those completely over the top ciboriums like the one in St Peters Rome.

I rather liked the place. Just goes to show you can mix Christian devotion with serious military prowess.