Detour #209: The Holy Grail of Road Trips, Portugal

Detour follows the Knights Templar on a crusade across Portugal from Porto to Lisbon.

Three men wearing button-down plaid shirts sit on rickety old stools on the cobblestone pavement. Their legs buckle at precarious angles, but the trio’s cool demeanour tells me they’re unconcerned. Their wrinkled faces have lines mapping experiences, wisdom, and a life well-lived. But for me, they’re a welcome scene, telling my heart I’m reaching Tomar, while my arrival on the N113 road confirms it.

I’ve come to Tomar for a specific reason. To find the Knights Templar. Protectors of the Holy Grail. Defenders of Christianity. Holy Crusade warriors. But these are just some reasons why the knights are so fascinating. Their tale began in 12th-century Jerusalem, but when the order was thriving, it held many strongholds in Europe.

None were as influential nor as powerful as those in Portugal. And Tomar was the order’s HQ, known today as the Templar city of Portugal.

The trio I see are no warriors, but their confident and masculine behaviour reminds me of the knights I’m searching for and why I’m willing to travel over 400 miles across five days.

Just the promise of them has already taken me along the steep and narrow road, having started in Porto. In truth the drive is not that interesting until Tomar, where I detour onto Rua Cruz de Santo António, following signposts to Aqueduto dos Pegões. There are many seemingly bottomless potholes, causing my car to bob up and down. But it’s worth the effort when the six-kilometre, 30-metre-high aqueduct, sporting 180 arches, stands before me. It once supplied water to Convento de Cristo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, formerly a Knights Templar military-religious base.  

I re-join the N113 before slipping onto Rua Leiria, occasionally bordered by lofty embankments. It delivers me to Tomar’s centre, River Nabāo, and the faint scent of freshly baked Portuguese custard tarts. Tomar is likened to a living museum, and with the convent and the Templar Church of Santa Maria do Olival standing sentry over the town, it’s easy to see why.  

I detour again to the Templar-associated Almourol Castle, passing medieval-dressed dancers and shops selling Templar memorabilia. But it’s the M541 that’s terrifyingly memorable, as its a road shrunk to a donkey-sized, mountain pass-style track with no barriers. I’m unsure whether the lush mushroom-shaped trees and impressive castle at the other end were worth this nail-biting excursion.

Whereas the N3/A23 leading to the Beira Baixa countryside is a stress-free joy. I’m awed by its plain of dried earth, enormous boulders, quaint villages, and threateningly tall mountains. One hilltop sits Monsanto (Holy Mountain), a rock village where terracotta roofs, streets, and the castle incorporate massive granite boulders. The castle was built by Gualdim Pais, the Knights Templar’s Grand Master after King Afonso I took the land from the Moors during the Reconquista.

But the knights weren’t just castle builders and warriors; they also followed many religious principles and Sintra’s popular neo-Gothic villa, Quinta da Regaleira, is steeped in Templar lore. I drive back past Tomar to get here, following the A1, A9, A37 and N375, with its ancient trees and large stone walls. And I’m glad I did, as Quinta da Regaleira has two Initiation Wells, with staircases descending underground which were used for Templar initiation rituals.

I carry this mysterious image to Lisbon, following coastal roads that snake around the glistening azure ocean. This body of water is the perfect backdrop to my final stop, Belem Tower, a famous 30-meter-high structure adorned with Templar-associated crosses.

As the sun sets on these decorations, it’s clear that while my own crusade may be over, the Knights Templar still fascinates the hordes of tourists photographing the tower.

Words & Photography Jade Braham Twitter | Instagram

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ROADBOOK

CLASS:history drive

NAME: the holy grail of road trips

ROUTE: porto to lisbon

COUNTRY: portugal

Distance: 437 Miles

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