Hi,
My older son, Joćo, needed to colect some (lots of...) examples of roots and leaves for a school project.
So we went to Mafra (40 miles North of Lisbon) to collect them and... try to find some herps or other critters.
On our way, we passed by the Mafra Palace-Convent.
So, for a bit of history, the Mafra Palace-Convent was built by command of Portuguese king Dom John V as a grace for having a (long waited) son and it“s of the - if not the - most important monument of the Portuguese Baroque. The works started in 1717 and in 1730 the Basilica was solemnly consecrated.
The Palace-Convent possesses one of the most important Portuguese libraries of the 18th and 19th centuries, with around 40,000 volumes, but (I believe) the monument is more famous because of its two carillons with 92 bells (its not easy to be in Mafra when they are played..)
So, after being properly introduced, here it is (bad pics, taken from inside the car)
After that we headed for the collection of the plants
Here“s the gang
Gonēalo (pronunced Gon-ssah-lu) looked like a perfect...sheppherd
And what the area looked like
We heard lots of frogs, saw a few, but couldn“t take any decent pictures.
But no herps whatsoever - anyway, with this gang (3 kids and a dog) only by miracle could we get close enough to a herp to see it.
So, it was a failure as regards field herping, but it was a nice day, nevertheless.
