In 1153, Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, gave a vast estate to the Cistercian monks of Bernard of Clairvaux, and they built here one of the greatest monasteries of medieval Europe. The church of Alcobaça, with its long, soaring nave of pale stone, is austere and beautiful in the Cistercian manner, and the cloisters, dormitory, chapter house and refectory survive almost intact. The kitchen is enormous, with a huge chimney and a stream diverted through it so the monks could catch fish directly. UNESCO listed the monastery in 1989. But the main reason most visitors come is a love story.
In the transepts lie the tombs of King Pedro I and Inês de Castro, his lover, who was murdered in 1355 on the orders of his father, King Afonso IV. When Pedro became king, he took revenge on her killers and, according to legend, had her body exhumed and crowned queen. Their tombs, carved with extraordinary detail, are placed facing each other, so that on the day of the Last Judgement, when they rise, the first thing each sees will be the other. It is one of the great romantic tales of Portugal, retold in poems, plays and operas.
The area around Alcobaça is rich in history. Nearby, the battlefield of Aljubarrota, where the Portuguese defeated a Castilian army in 1385 and secured independence, has a museum, and the monastery of Batalha, built to celebrate the victory, is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, also listed by UNESCO. To the west, Nazaré is a fishing town famous for its giant waves, which attract surfers from around the world in winter.
The riding here is relaxed, with country roads through orchards, vineyards and pine forests, and the coast road offers views of the Atlantic. Traffic is moderate, but busy around the towns and on summer weekends. Alcobaça, with nearly sixteen thousand inhabitants, has fuel, shops and restaurants. The region is famous for its convent sweets, made with eggs and sugar, and ginja, a sour cherry liqueur. Try frango na púcara, chicken cooked in a clay pot, or fresh fish grilled in Nazaré.