5 unique destinations to visit in Portugal in 2019

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Mafra Palace Library - Terreiro D. João V, Mafra, Portugal

The Palace of Mafra was completed in 1755 and is now a magnificent library, containing 36,000 books, dating from the 14th-19th centuries and bound in leather. What is unusual about the library is that the books are threatened by pests, so the library employs the services of a colony of inch-long bats to patrol at night. They happily munch the moths, bookworms and other insects that could destroy the books and sleep behind the bookshelves in the day.

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