Batalha

Abbey, caves and Bascilica

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May 5th 2007
A busy and enjoyable day started with a surprise. Our route passed through Batalha and the road went right by a huge ecclesiastical building. We stopped and it turned out to be a huge and impressive Abbey built between the 14th and 16th centuries to commemorate the battle which sealed Portugal’s independence from Spain. An interesting part of the building is a series of ornate chapels which wer ... read more

Europe » Portugal

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Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil a... ... read more