In my last post I described the Palacia da Pena as not obscenely large; yesterday, I went to the National Palace in Mafra and it is more than obscenely large. If the 1200 plus rooms in the palace and monastery are difficult enough to visualize, add the small detail that I went through only 40 rooms and I walked two kilometers (about a mile). The king at that time had asked the Franciscans to ask God to help his wife bear a child, promising that he would build them a monastery if it happened. Buying off God worked for him and his wife bore a child the next year. Such a self-important man wasn’t about to build a monastery for only 13 monks and built it for 300 instead, and an enormous basilica, and a small 880 room “hunting palace.” During one of the 33 years it took to build, they counted 52,000 workmen at the palace. To make it worse, the royal family spent a total of three or four days a year there. It is impossible to use that many rooms with anything less than an army so most of the enormous furnished rooms were nothing more than hallways between used rooms. The “hallway” between the king’s and queen’s rooms was about 700 feet long (223 meters). Pictures were not allowed so I did not take any, but since we only had six people in our tour, the tour guide took a picture of me sitting on a Charles V bench!
The bus driver to Mafra was the most reserved I have seen, opposite of the driver I had to Cabo da Rocha. That guy must have been Mario Andretti’s suicidal brother on meth. We careened through a dozen small villages at amazing speed considering that at times it would have been generous to say that it was a one-lane road. Delightful stucco buildings painted in muted pastels take on a much more menacing appearance when they are within two inches of your bus window at 35 mph (60 kph) on twisty village lanes. I have to give him credit, he knew exactly how big his bus was. Roundabouts were like going to Six Flags from where I was in the back of the bus, it was wild.
Being a pedestrian here can be dangerous. Some drivers will slow or stop for you if you are in a crosswalk and others will speed up to discourage you from crossing. Never assume you have the right of way.
It is my last full day in Lisboa and I am spending it catching up on posting pictures, planning my trip to Porto, packing, and resting.
