Introducing the city of Tomar Part 1. A walk round some of the sights.

Introducing Tomar - Part 1 I´d never heard of Tomar before we visited Portugal on holiday back in 2018. We were in the north of Portugal, when I came across the name and the fact it had a World Heritage Site. It wasn’t the Heritage Site that made me say I wanted to visit the city, despite it being a few hours south of where we were, it was just something about the potential of it all. Tomar is located 1.5 hours north of Lisbon and 2 hours south of Porto. Very central in Portugal. I can safely say it doesn’t disappoint. From the castle overlooking the town to the Nabão River winding its way through the park and under what is known locally as the Roman Bridge, though technically it is medieval. It all has a lovely feel about it. There is the modern part, which we haven’t explored so far, and then there’s the old streets, with only the odd car going through. There are so many wonderful small shops to choose from and, as you might expect of Portugal, an array of cafes and restaurants, from expensive to very reasonably priced. The Castle houses the Convento de Christo (The Convent of Christ), but more of this in our next video which is about this very special building and the surrounding area. Back in the 13th century Tomar was one of the most powerful and influential towns in Portugal and the architecture reflects this beautifully. Our video, once we arrive in Tomar, starts as we enter the Praça da República. In the centre of the square is the Monumento Galdim Pais – a stature of Tomar’s founder and at the top of the square is the 15th century Câmara Municipal de Tomar building that now houses the Mayor of Tomar’s offices. If you’re in Portugal, it’s a great place to visit, although can get very busy in the height of the tourist season, especially if one of the Knights of the Templar events are being hosted or the Festa dos Tabuleiros (The Festival of the Trays) that happens every four years. Again, we’ll be covering a bit about this in our next video. Thousands of people descend on Tomar for this spectacular event. Next one happens in 2027! I suspect accommodation will already have been booked solid for months if not a year or so. In our video we mentioned a couple of restaurants, the links are below: The restaurant overlooking the river with the Wisteria is A Bela Vista, a very traditional Portuguese restaurant with very helpful staff. https://maps.app.goo.gl/fUiNSUGgCHgaV... One of our favourite restaurants is, in fact, an Indian restaurant. The Curry Indian House run by the delightful Ganesh. It’s right next door to the bus and train station and has a varied menu and, again, very helpful staff. https://maps.app.goo.gl/uec8khJurdaDe... In the Praça da República, the square we first entered in our video, the first restaurant we showed was the Taverna Antiqua: https://maps.app.goo.gl/d46tkGURRYwLX... You definitely need to book to get a table here. We mentioned Via Verde, the tag which debits your account for toll charges and parking. Here’s the link: https://visitors.viaverde.pt/en/home?... Bear in mind, this is for Portugal and you will need a different tag for different countries. We had two, one for France and one for Portugal when we drove down. I will say at this stage that public transport in Portugal is absolutely excellent. We use the Flixbus to get us to and from the airport (2 hours and costs less than 5 euros one way). The train fare from Tomar to Lisbon (2 hour journey) costs just 10.55 euros one way.