Our little excursion from Fatima took us to Tomar, also in the Santarem district. This city was the centre of Portuguese overseas expansion in the 15th century under Henry the Navigator, Grand Master of the Order of Christ, the successor organization in Portugal of the very controversial and powerful Order of the Knights Templar. Who would have thought? Prior to this trip, I had never associated Portugal with knights as much as I did with England and France, and much less the

Belém, a historic riverside district of Lisbon, is a “must-visit” place and definitely worth the 20 to 30-minute drive from the city centre. Located at the mouth of the Tagus River, at the point where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, Belém used to be a humble fishing village. It rose in importance in the late 15th-century, when Portugal launched its sea explorations to East Africa, Brazil, and India. It was from there where caravels sailed on their voyage of discovery, and to whe