Alcobaça is a town in Estremadura that grew around one of Europe's most important monuments: the monastery of Santa Maria de Alcobaça, founded in 1153 by Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques, who gave these lands to the Cistercian monks of St Bernard after the conquest of Santarém. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1989, the monastery was for centuries one of the most powerful religious, cultural and agricultural centres in the country.
The church
The façade is Baroque, but behind it opens the grand Gothic church, begun in 1178 and consecrated in 1252: with its three very tall, bare and luminous naves, more than a hundred metres long, it is the largest church in Portugal and a masterpiece of Cistercian architecture in its austerity.
Pedro and Inês
In the transept are the tombs of Pedro I and Inês de Castro, masterpieces of fourteenth-century Gothic sculpture. Prince Pedro fell in love with Inês, a lady-in-waiting to his wife, and after his wife's death lived with her, and she bore him children. His father, King Afonso IV, fearing the influence of Inês's Castilian brothers, had her killed in Coimbra in 1355. On becoming king, Pedro took revenge on the murderers and, according to legend, had Inês crowned queen after her death, forcing the court to kiss her hand. The tombs face each other so that at the resurrection the two lovers will see each other first. The story has inspired poets and playwrights from Camões onwards.
The monastery
You can visit the Cloister of Silence, built for King Dinis, one of the largest Gothic cloisters in Europe, the chapter house, the dormitory, the refectory with its reader's pulpit and the Hall of Kings, with statues of the monarchs and azulejo panels telling the story of the foundation. The eighteenth-century kitchen is impressive, with an enormous central chimney and a channel of water diverted from a river running through it, used for washing and, it is said, for bringing in fresh fish.
Sweets and apples
Alcobaça is famous for its egg-and-sugar convent sweets, and every November it hosts the International Exhibition of Convent Sweets and Liqueurs. The area is also known for the Alcobaça apple, with protected geographical indication. The town is a few kilometres from Nazaré and Batalha, and about an hour and a half from Lisbon.