THE MIDKNIGHT GARDEN: Home to The Serpent Priesthood & Knights of the Red Order.

DAY SEVENTEEN: THURSDAY 10th APRIL. A lovely rest day today!

DAY EIGHTEEN. FRIDAY 11th APRIL. Church of the Third Order of our Lady of Carmel: Founded in 1629 CE, many Templar symbols are encased within. It was very quiet and very closed so sadly we saw none of the Templar symbols within. The church was begun in 1745 and built in the late Baroque style, its interior is an example of Rococo splendor with beautiful gilded and marbled carvings. The church’s generous proportions are complemented by its rich and exuberant ornamentation made up of altarpieces, imagery and paintings evoking the main figures of Carmelite spirituality, namely Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Saint Elias, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Albert and Saint Iphigenia. Another must-see is the series of altarpieces in this church, already moulded in the rococo form, especially the main altarpiece, praised as a masterpiece of Algarvian woodcarving.

The Church of St Mary of the Castle: Church of Santa Maria do Castelo, in the historic town of Tavira in the Algarve, Portugal. We visited here instead of our planned boat tour, which was cancelled because of impending bad weather. This white church is on a hilltop inside old castle walls in a very old area, the surrounding streets were very narrow and pokey but very picturesque.

The church was beautiful inside with some lovely works of art and carvings, much more than i was expecting to be honest. But as renovations were being carried out and scaffolding had been erected, some parts were hard to photograph. Afterwards we had a very tasty high-class lunch in the bistro nearby!

DAY NINETEEN. SATURDAY 12th APRIL. Leave Mata Rota. Portugal:

Santerem Cathedral. Santerem. Portugal (Church of our Lady of the Immaculate Concepton): A really lovely, spacious historic centre here, with the cathedral taking pride of place in the large square. There are lots of good quality shops, coffee places and eateries all around. We enjoyed a relaxing stroll around and both bought some lovely items of Craft relevance.

The cathedral here is more like a palace in looks, and yet who is to say what a cathedral looks like really. This Jesuit church, dating from the seventeenth century, was erected on the site of the royal palace of the Alcazaba Nova, abandoned since the time of King John II. Later, with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal by order of the Marquis of Pombal, the building became host to the Patriarchal Seminary after being donated by D. Maria I for this purpose, and it remained in that use until the twentieth century. When the Diocese of Santarém was created, in 1975, the church was elevated to the status of cathedral. The Diocesan Museum of Santarém is located in the Episcopal Palace, part of the Cathedral complex. The cathedral is full of Baroque art and pieces of wonder with lots of gold and glitz to feast one’s eyes upon.

I took so many photos & these were the best! <click to view>

DAY TWENTY. SUNDAY 13th APRIL: A two night stay at Nazare, Portugal for a nice rest. When we arrived the landlady seemed hell-bent on not leaving us to our own devices, it was a very long day and all we wanted to do was unpack and rest! A cosy retreat though with a lovely bath, fluffy, warm bed sheets and lots of sleep!

DAY TWENTY ONE. MONDAY 14th APRIL. Leave Casa da Candida and on the road again!

Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira: Church of Our Lady Oliveira, Guimaraes. Portugal: Although it was a rainy old day here, Guimaraes did look vibrant and shiny in the rain. It was a lovely place, old and medieval with many eateries, coffee shops and shops set around the main square. Even though lots of ‘touristy’ shops, we did see some lovely items for sale, i think it would be a very busy place in the summer months, so we came at the right time. I even spotted a shell symbol in the pavements.

The church which is in the city square, was  founded as a double monastery in about 949 by Countess Mumadona Disa, the widow of Count Hermenegildo González, and has lots of beautiful artworks inside with much symbology present.

The Chapel really was down a wet grassy track in the middle of nowhere…

Igreja de Venade Venade Church. Venade. Portugal: A Medieval style  Church built in 1261 CE. The Original grounds on which it was built was labelled in history as a ‘Temple’. It was a lovely area, very well looked after with a huge, very ‘gothic’ graveyard, and even though closed on this occasion i could imagine it being very popular in the summer months.

Always time for a nice coffee

 

Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tui_Cathedral

“So there it is dear reader the end of a very busy third week and what an amazing week of contrasts it has been, from the glitz and the glamour to the ancient and profound, to the decaying and derelict. Yet they all have one thing in common, all are part of a larger puzzle that tell a tale of truth and illusion, all have that important connection to Craft”