Two hundred years ago Napoleon ordered his armies to invade Portugal as punishment for the country not having joined to its policy of blocking all ports of Europe to English navigation.
Portugal asked for aid to England and a joint force of British and Portuguese commanded by Arthur Wellesley, future Duke of Wellington, was created to tackle the situation.
To prepare the defense of the third and last invasion Wellesly built two impregnable defensive lines north of Lisbon, fortifying all the surrounding hills.

Known as the Defensive Lines of Torres Vedras this structure is a world military reference and led to the end of the invasions and the consequent persecution of the French armies in Spain and France in 1814.

In this tour we will visit three of the main fortifications of the Torres Vedras Defensive Lines which connect the Tagus river to the Atlantic: the Alhandra Fort and the Memorial, the Zambujal Fort in Mafra and the St. Vincent Fort in Torres Vedras. In Mafra we'll visit the magnificent baroque complex Palace/Convent/Basilic of Mafra (closed tuesday), built with the large amounts of gold brought from Brazil. This palace was the last residence of the monarch João VI before the escape of the royal family to Brazil.

On this trip we will talk about the history of this period and the importance of the influence of French revolutionary ideas on the future of Portugal.

A highlight of the tour is the beautiful scenery of the places we will visit.