Mafra is a Portuguese village situated in Lisbon district, and it is also a municipality that is divided into 11 parishes.
Located about 40 km on the north of the Portuguese capital, and only 9 km away from Ericeira, Mafra was founded during Middle Age, being recognized by king D. Manuel in 1513.
The village would remain very small for several years, having a population of little over one hundred people, and an even smaller number of houses. It was only in 1717, with the beginning of the construction of the Mafra Palace that the village began expanding, mostly due to the arrival of hundreds of construction workers with their respective families, and that settled around the construction site, which made the village increase not only in terms of population, but also in number of houses and area.
Nowadays, Mafra is a very developed villages, with a population of over 70 000 people, and that has a varied number of social and economic infrastructures, like schools, day cares, health facilities or highways, just to name a few, and that have greatly contributed to the settlement of people in the area.
Mafra is also one of the main touristic attractions in the west area of Portugal, mostly because of the Mafra Palace, a grand monument that became even more famous after the publication of the book “Baltasar and Blimunda”, by Nobel prize winner José Saramago, attracting thousands of visitors from all over the world every year. The Tapada de Mafra, a national park, is also one of the main attractions of the village, and brings a lot of tourists to the village. The local traditional food is also a highlight of the area, with emphasis on the well-known Mafra bread, a bread with great dimensions baked in a wood oven that is very popular all over Portugal and that brought even more recognition to the village.
