Bats, Books, and Saramago

A tour of the National Palace-monastery at Mafra was on the agenda today. This location, aside from being a fascinating and important piece of Portuguese history, is also the literary location of Jose Saramago novel, Baltazar and Blimunda. I'm re-reading this novel, but to actually be in the place he was writing about changes the whole game. Mafra has a magnificent library where Saramago did his research. The library has resident bats who are very popular with the librarians as the bats consume the bugs intent on eating the rare books - 40, 000 rare books to be exact.

In this photo, I am in small alcove above the church where the Franciscan monks practiced playing the pipe-organ, where the servants passed through, and parts of the aparatus to ring 16 tons of bells were stored. Here's a shout out to our own Father Dominic of the St. Louis Priory whose namesake I happened across today cast in marble. Father Dominic teaches history and would have been delighted at every crevice and cornerstone of this beautiful place.

And since today was very hot in Portugal, I leave you with this:

The day was already hot, with a dark-blue sky and one of those shining festival suns that inflame the stones in the street, gild the dull dust in the air, throw mirror-like sparkles on to windows and give to all the city that white, chalk-like glitter, monotonously alive and implacable, that tires and somewhat saddens the soul in the slow summer hours. —Eça de Queirós, The Maias