6.19: Let them eat bread

And don't forget to hydrate!

Olá Peeps,

Founded in 1160, the city of Tomar is about 90 miles north of Lisbon. It has a ton of history. A good place to start is the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Convent of Christ in Tomar. It’s one of the most important sites for the Knights Templar. Also, Henry The Navigator spent a decade in Tomar planning Portugal’s age of discovery. So, there’s a lot to see in Tomar.

But none of these were on our Tomar agenda (July 2023) because Sunday was the culmination of a week-long celebration that happens every four years… Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of Trays). Yes, you read that right… a festival of TRAYS! (You really can’t make this up!)

Each tray of bread and paper flowers is carried on the head of a “girl”

In the early 1300s, during the reign of King Denis, Queen Isabel liked to give trays of bread to the poor. Even though the king wasn’t sold on the idea, he eventually had to get onboard. By the 16th century, it had become a week-long festival.

On the last day, “girls” carry trays of bread and paper flowers in a procession through the town. The day after the festival, the (day-old) bread, plus meats and wine, were given to the poor. Yum!

At some point, they also started decorating the entire city. Every street in Tomar is decorated with streamers, paper flowers, quilts, etc. Each street competes for the title of Best Street.

Each of the 19 districts takes part in processions throughout the week. The big day is Sunday, when girls carry trays on their heads piled high with paper flowers and loaves of bread weighing about 30 pounds. (I promise I’m not making this up!!!)

Every district has a different decorative theme, but the stacks of bread are always topped with a crown and a Knights Templar cross.

The height of the stack of bread is supposed to equal the height of the girl. Each girl is accompanied by a “boy” helper. When you’re carrying a 5-foot-high tray of 30 pounds of bread and paper flowers on your head for several hours on a miserably hot July day… well, I would think a helper could come in handy!

So, now that you’ve gotten the general idea, here’s how our day actually went...

Traditionally, they get 500,000 visitors… this year, they were expecting 800,000! The city was bursting with sweaty visitors at every turn. Busses couldn’t drive into town, so they dropped us off in a parking field so we could take a shuttle bus into town. We were a big group and some headed off on foot. We assumed the busses would come along fairly frequently. They didn’t. And when they arrived in town, the walk was still quite far. You know you’re in the right place by the Knights Templar open crosses in the sidewalks.

As the crowds got thicker, trying to stay together wasn’t easy, so we agreed to meet at the restaurant at 12:30.

Some of us headed up to the Convent of Christ because it’s a must-see. We were disappointed because it turned into a no-can-see, once we got there and saw the lines to get in.

Change of plans… we walked around the town to check out the street decorations. I had not realized how serious they are about their street decorations. We were seeing them at the end of the week, after lots of traffic and rain damage, but they were... well… extreme.

Every street has a different look. Some even have details such as little paper bugs on their paper flowers. You never know what you’ll find when you turn each corner. They even have a whole shop of Templar “stuff.”

Look closely… there’s a lady bug.

There’s a river that divides the city, and I understand the other side is interesting, too. But navigating the crowds was exhausting… so no crossing the river. I guess that’s the convent, up on that hill...

By 12:30 we were looking forward to a nice sit-down lunch at Sabores ao Rubro and a break from the crowds. But something was off... in their book, our 12:30 reservation was shown as a 2:30 reservation. That was disappointing, but what can you do? More sightseeing, I guess

Although things got off to a rough start, we enjoyed lunch and left smiling. I’m sure the restaurant owners are happy this festival only occurs once every four years!

So, off to see the bread gals… Yikes!!! The crowds were really thick. It was impossible to see anything. But I did what everyone else was doing… I held the camera up and snapped. You can barely see the tops of some of the bread trays.

Eventually, we decided we had probably seen all the bread gals we were going to see, and it was time to start making our way back to the bus. At this point, everyone was hot, sweaty, dehydrated, and exhausted… some folks were downright hostile.

I wouldn’t say our Tomar excursion was one of our better adventures. If I ever do it again… which I won’t… I’d do a few things differently. I definitely want to return to see the historic parts of Tomar, but at the end of the day, I was happy to be heading home.

L&P