There is one thing that Tomar doesn’t lack and that is Coffee Shops. Everywhere you go, be it in the central areas or in the outskirts of the city, you are bound to always find Cafes nearby. Coffee Shops are part of the Portuguese culture as it is there that people get together to talk, make friends and of course drink a coffee or “bica”. Many people even prefer to go to a coffee shop to write something. rather than going to a library. These photos below were shot in different areas of Tomar like Rua Coronel Garcês Teixeira, Praça da República and Rua dos Arcos.
This coffee shop in a small lane close to Rua Coronel Garcês Teixeira in Tomar
This an esplanade and cafe located at Praça da República in Tomar, In summer people love to have their coffees outside
This coffee shop is called Tendinha and it is very old, located at Rua dos Arcos in Tomar
This is an old street of Tomar at night, called Rua Silva Magalhães. This street took the name of António Silva Magalhães, known as the photographer of Tomar, who lived in the city at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century. Most old photos of Tomar were shot by him and later by his son Mário Nery de Magalhães. His first studio called “Typographia Photographia” was at the end of this street and opened its doors in 1862.
This is the beginning of Rua Silva Magalhães in Tomar, on the side of Praça da República.
At this stage I was possibly in the middle of Rua Silva Magalhães in the City of Tomar
This is the other side of Rua Silva Magalhâes. At the end of this street the photographer of Tomar called António Silva Magalhães, set up his Photography Shop in 1862
The Portuguese azulejos which are ceramic artistic tiles, are famous worldwide, and the tradition started a time long ago. That’s why when you visit the Convent of Christ in the City of Tomar you find this kind of tile workmanship everywhere, just like these tile paintings, which seem to be from the 16th century and are essentially based on biblical scenes.
Portuguese tile mural paintings at the Convent of Christ in the City of Tomar
These tile paintings at the Christ Convent in Tomar are basically inspired on biblical scenes of the Catholic Church
Another two tile paintings at the Convent of Christ with religious themes from the 16th century
Another set of the statue of Henry the Navigator (Infante D. Henrique) in front of the gates of the Seven Hills Forest. Tomar reached an high level of development and importance when Henry Navigator lived in the city in the 15th century. It was in Tomar that he planned the Portuguese maritime discoveries and the town was considered the centre of Portugal as people travelling to Lisbon, Coimbra, Santarém and even Porto, usually had to go through Tomar.
Statue of Henry the Navigator close to the main gate of the Seven Hills Forest in Tomar
At the position I was when I shot this picture, the gate of Mata dos Sete Montes in Tomar was behind me and on the other side of the statue is Avenida Cândido Madureira
The statue of Infante Dom Henrique, the Portuguese prince who made Tomar a very important city in the 15th century
This used to be the small stadium of Tomar. It was here that the local football club, União de Tomar used to play top teams like Benfica, Porto and Sporting of the first division of the Portuguese football championship. In time things changed dramatically. União de Tomar is now playing soccer in the lower divisions and the stadium became just a football and athletics track at Mouchão Park.
This is the former stadium of Tomar where the local club União de Tomar, used to play in the Portuguese Premier League
In time the football stadium of Tomar at Mouchão Park, became a soccer field and an athletics track
To the left of the soccer field there is a sports pavilion and it's the end of Mouchão Park in this area
I believe that photos of skies are beautiful, charming and sometimes even mysterious. Skies are something that many people are fascinated with and in this occasion I was interested in the skies of Tomar. So I shot these pictures in a more modern area of the city. These photos were taken at Alameda Primeiro de Março and Rua Amorim Rosa. Those blocks of apartments aren’t exactly skyscrapers but they are among some of the tallest buildings in town.
The photo of this sky of Tomar and the buildings in the area was shot at Rua Amorim Rosa in Tomar
Another photo of the skies in the City of Tomar, taken at the corner of Rua Amorim Rosa and Alameda 1º de Março
This picture of the skies of Tomar was shot when I was at Alameda Primeiro de Março in Tomar
Another set of indoor photos of shops in Tomar. The first shot was taken at night and is a shopping gallery located at Avenida Cândido Madureira. The photo in the middle is a gift shop at Rua Infantaria Quinze and it’s specifically related to all things about Tomar. It sells souvenirs connected to the history of the city and it even sells wine produced in the region. The last photo is just a shoe shop indoors located at Avenida Nuno Álvares Pereira.
Photo shot at night of a shopping gallery at Avenida Cândido Madureira in the City of Tomar
This is a very interesting gift shop at Rua Infantaria Quinze in Tomar. It sells souvenirs and lots of other things related to the City of Tomar, including good wine from the region
My wife had a quick look inside this shoe shop at Avenida Nuno Álvares Pereria in Tomar and I just took a quick snap
This is another set of photos of the roads inside Seven Hills National Forest (Mata Nacional dos Sete Montes) in the City of Tomar. This is a forest that used to belong to the Order of Christ, but there was a time, for about a century it belonged to a family called Costa Cabral who also owned the Convent of Christ. On this occasion I focused my attention to people, which in this case is my family. Along the way we stopped here and there and as usual I was always pressing the shutter button of my camera.
In our walk around the roads of Seven Hills Forest we stopped for a while and I shot this picture of my son and wife
This is a bifurcation road at Mata Nacional dos Sete Montes in Tomar.
In this case we decided to take a dirt road at the Seven Hills Forest in Tomar rather than an asphalted ones
In the last set of photos about the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Piedade, I published pictures of Capelinha do Bom Jesus (Little Chapel of Good Jesus), which is possibly in the middle of the staircase of 286 steps, that leads to the other big chapel. So after stopping in the middle we continued our ascent and in this collection we can already see Senhora da Piedade Chapel on top of the hill. We were almost there.
After stopping for a while, we continued our ascent to the top of the hill where the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Piedade in the City of Tomar was waiting for us
In this area some steps were damaged. In the distance we could already see a bit of the Chapel of Senhora da Piedade
We were slowly approaching our destination where the Chapel of Senhora da Piedade had been built in the 14th century (1512)
As a follow up of my last post about the Chapel of Senhora da Conceição in Tomar, I now include a set of photos of the road that leads to chapel and for that matter, to the Castle of Tomar and the Convent of Christ. Most people drive there but it’s not that hard to walk to the chapel as it’s not far from the centre of the city. It’s good exercise, it’s a lot of fun and if you have a camera with you, you can take wonderful shots along the way.
This is the road that leads to the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Tomar
Not everybody drives or walks. Some people use their bicycles to go to The Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição or to the Castle of Tomar and the Convent of Christ
While walking on the road to the Chapel of Senhora da Conceição, you can enjoy the views