The PADRAO DOS DESCOBRIMENTOS (Discoveries Monument) in Lisbon - a huge limestone shaped like a stylized caravel and filled with carvings of important Portuguese figures. At the prow is Henry, the Navigator. Behind him are explorers extraordinaire - Vasco de Gama, Diogo Cao and Fernao de Magalhaes, amongst others. The Portuguese are a seafaring breed of folks who, in centuries past, love discovering new lands, territories and continents.
		MAFRA PALACE: This is a HUGE building, and SO expensive to build, that it is said to have bankrupted the nation! It is the building with the most bells in the world, and it includes 880 halls and rooms, 5200 doorways, and 2500 windows. The palace includes a basilica and a monastery. Its library has about 40,000 books dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries, including the first editions of Camões` `Os Lusiadas` and the earliest edition of Homer in Greek. It`s one of the finest libraries in Europe and the world.
		HOLY CITY of FATIMA: In 1917, the Virgin Mary, also called Our Lady of Fatima, reportedly appeared to three children who were tending sheep. Traditional Catholic celebrations, processions, pilgrimidges are important activities in the lives of people. Each year thousands of people make a pilgramedge to the Portaguese town of Fatima.