Local Information

Mafra (pron. ) is both a municipality and a town within the district of Lisbon on the Portuguese west coast,in Greater Lisbon(Grande Lisboa)region. The municipality has a total population in 2002 of 53,069. It is mainly rural with some tourist activity centred in the town Mafra and especially in the seaside town of Ericeira, which has become a key destination for national and (...)

and Italianized Neoclassical palace-monastery located in Mafra, Portugal. Its dimensions are so huge that it dwarfs the city. The palace-monastery is said to be Portugal's attempt to rival the Spanish palace at Escorial outside Madrid, Spain. The palace, which also served as a Franciscan monastery, was built during the reign of King John V (1707-1750), in consequence of a vow made by the king (...)

Ericeira is a parish and a fishing and seaside resort town on the west coast of Portugal, in the municipality of Mafra, about 35 km north-west of the centre of Lisbon. A new motorway is under construction and will cut the travel time from Lisboa considerably from late 2007/ early 2008 (...)