Experience a private tour, where you and your group have chance to explore the Alcobaça Monastery, a place where eternal love is celebrated, as it is the resting place of Pedro and Inês – the protagonists of a tragic love story that could be called… a real life “Romeo and Juliet”. For centuries, they have been resting on two exquisite tombs, two gems of the XIV century, sculptures that is like a book to be read.
Pedro was a prince whose lover, Inês, was brutally assassinated for political reasons. When Pedro became the King of Portugal, he made sure justice was served: he had the assassins killed and legend has it their hearts were taken out to make them pay for his broken heart. His beloved Inês was then crowned Queen of Portugal… after death!
Learn why Alcobaça Monastery was one of the most important centers in all of Europe of the Order of the Cistercians. They were led by Bernard of Claraval (later made “Saint Bernard”). A relative of the first king of Portugal, Bernard was a mystic, a religious reformer and a preacher that the hear of popes and kings and was one of the most influential personalities of XII century Europe. The Alcobaça monastery was the last new cistercian center he approved before passing away, putting his weight behind the cause of Portugal: fighting off the moors and becoming an internationally recognized independent nation.
“Pray and Work” was the motto of the Cistercians and they left something of a profane legacy in Alcobaça too: in farming (Alcobaça apples are the best of the country), in the famous ginjinha liqueur and also in their celebrated conventual pastry, which you will be able to taste after the tour.
In front of Alcobaça monastery
