📍 Uma cidade medieval no centro de Portugal - capital dos Cavaleiros Templários em Portugal, e um dos sítios históricos mais extraordinários da Europa. 🎂 Em 1160, Gualdim Pais, Grão-Mestre dos Templários em Portugal, escolheu uma colina acima do Rio Nabão para construir o castelo e a sede da Ordem. A lenda diz que os cavaleiros foram guiados por bons presságios até ao local. Em 1983, a UNESCO classificou o Castelo e o Convento de Cristo como Património Mundial da Humanidade. 💡 Quando o Papa dissolveu os Cavaleiros Templários em toda a Europa em 1312, Portugal fez algo inteligente - e muito português. O Rei D. Dinis simplesmente rebatizou a Ordem como "Ordem de Cristo" e transferiu toda a riqueza dos Templários para a nova organização. Os Templários continuaram. Com outro nome. Depois, o Infante D. Henrique - já nosso conhecido da entrada H - tornou-se governador da Ordem e usou a sua riqueza para financiar as grandes viagens dos Descobrimentos. As caravelas portuguesas navegaram com a Cruz de Cristo nas velas. Tomar está em todo o lado - mesmo que não saiba. 🍽️ Visite o Convento de Cristo de manhã cedo - entre na Charola, a igreja circular dos Templários inspirada no Santo Sepulcro de Jerusalém, e procure a famosa Janela do Capítulo, uma das obras-primas do estilo manuelino. Não há nada igual em todo o mundo. 🗣️ Vocabulário: - o cavaleiro - the knight - a ordem - the order - o convento - the convent / monastery - a cruz - the cross 💬 "Os Templários construíram o seu castelo em Tomar em 1160." ❓ Hora do quiz: O que aconteceu aos Cavaleiros Templários em Portugal quando a Ordem foi dissolvida pelo Papa em 1312?

Notable: "I just did that ALL in Portuguese! 😁" - Please share in the comments, if you intend to or have done this recently NEW VIP feature (in beta) - Barcelo, the talking cock - password The new comprehension and speaking exercise, based on watching a TV show is here. --- Thanks @Peter Haglund, @Brian Mathers & @Bob Wenger for sharing weekly goals and progress, including celebrating Bob’s moment of doing everything in Portuguese. Peter plans to learn the Portuguese alphabet song differences, memorize the full “Happy Birthday” song, and keep watching Portuguese news, game shows, and cartoons. Brian will also learn the songs, watch more shows, and practice Portuguese conversations at the gym (NEW gym module here). Bob commits to spending more time in the course platform, continues TV immersion, and follows Portuguese influencer Ricardo 'IronFarmer' Cabral (Ironman/farmer) to practice listening with and without captions; they discuss his views on wildfire risks linked to reduced grazing and forest debris. We discussed mindset and trusting comprehension (like speed-reading principles); mentioned the “24 Kitchen” Portuguese cooking channel. @Vivian Shuemake, @Lori Wong feel free to PM me woth your pledges for the week, or post in the comments 👇 Notes: QUAKE! review - 😏 - @Peter Haglund Gulbenkian museums & gardens (Gulbenkian, the man)

***You'll be seeing some BIG changes with this community, and here's why*** The best time to learn Portuguese was twenty years ago. The next best time is now. If you think you’ve heard that formula before, it was originally about trees, but I’ve seconded it for my purposes today, as I wish I’d started learning this country’s language a couple of decades ago, when I was just about to visit for a recce, and ended up falling in love with the place. Back then, on my first 'deployment', I remember getting a briefing from my host, which had me learning “Olá!” and “Superbock”, as well as surprised (and warned about) the Spanish similarity, and preferring Sagres anyway in my Central Portuguese location. There, I managed to get by, having a haircut and wet shave based entirely on mime, trust and hope - a formula that has done me proud to this day. That fact-finding, curiosity-satisfying and bond-creating trip was a great success and come this September, I’ll have lived in Portugal for nine years. I'm staggered by how quickly that time has flown by, which is of course what happens, when you are having fun. But I’m also shocked by my poor grasp of the Portuguese language after all this time. I live side-by-side with the lovely people of Portugal, and on the kind of reflection that big anniversaries bring about, I poignantly note that I have made so little linguistic progress. It’s embarrassing, frankly. At this point, the excuses can begin. “It’s a difficult language, even the Portuguese themselves admit this,” say other awkward expats when asked the “how is your Portuguese question”. “I’m too old, and I’ve always been rubbish at languages,” replies another, when the subject comes up as it invariably and eventually does. And, worst of all, as if we were not embarrassed enough already, “everyone speaks English here anyway!”. If we live here, and haven’t in reasonable time at least grasped some of the basics (hello, how are you?, thank you and goodbye), we might and probably should feel a pang of shame or awkwardness. These basic courtesies are what people might learn for a city-break or two-week vacation, and certainly not overlooked if actually resident somewhere, anywhere. Knowing your name, ordering basics in a restaurant, counting, the days of the week, and asking for help, all for example, could also be seen as basics for anyone with longer-term intentions to remain.