Famous writers are an integral part of Portuguese history. Several had a dramatic impact on the country, such was the force of their writing. Tombs to the greats can be found in Jeronimos Monastery and the National Pantheon. Book into accommodation like top-rated Hotel Real Palacio and take the time to sit at the same table as Lisbon's literary greats to pick over the pages of this fascinating city.

According to eturbonews, Portugal harboured such great writers because it had an early flourishing education system and was one of the first countries in Europe to designate a stable native language. While other countries were still recovering from plagues and pestilence, Portugal was well on its way to producing some of the best writers - arguably in Europe. See Lisbon travel news for the best sights to visit.

Master of disguise

Writer Fernando Pessoa is considered one of Portugal's finest and produced work as several alter egos. He wrote not only in different narratives but also under different names; at least 72 are known. The most common are Alberto Caeiro, a shepherd, Ricardo Reis, a man of letters, and Alvaro de Campos, a free spirit. A statue of Pessoa sits, where he used to drink at a table in Cafe a Brasileria, which is now a trendy watering hole. Pessoa's former house has since been turned into a museum. True fans can stay in one of the cheap hotels in Lisbon nearby.

The poet with two tombs

Legend has it that the last words of poet Luis Vaz de Camoes were "all will see that so dear to me was my country that I was content to die not only in it but with it". Camoes lost an eye and an arm in service to the King and is alleged to have vented his patriotism by reading a poem to King Dom Sebastiao in 1572, urging him to restore Portugal to decency and glory. Apparently the King scoffed and continued plans to invade north Africa, where he was crushed. The Spanish army invaded Portugal as Camoes lay on his deathbed in 1580. Camoes has since become a national icon with tombs at the National Pantheon in Lisbon and the Jeronimos Monastery. However, his body lies in neither, as searches for his final resting place have come up: unknown.

The Nobel Prize winner

A tale about Portugal's most important baroque monument won Jose Saramago the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. He blends fact and fiction when he talks about Mafra Palace. It has six organs and a library with 38,000 books and is one of the best examples of architecture in Lisbon. Saramago's winning text, Memorial do Convento, talks about the palace during the period of the Inquisition. He introduces readers to a soldier and clairvoyant and a priest Bartolomeu, who actually existed. The palace used to be the official residence of the Portuguese royals before the country was declared a republic in 1910. Stay in one of the best hotels in Lisbon to remind yourself of royalty.

Father and son hold fort

Near the affordable accommodation in Barcelos is a statue of a father and son standing with swords drawn, ready to meet the enemy. They signify the two characters in Alexandre Herculano's bloody tale of a duo determined to defend Faria Castle to the death against the Castilians. The tale peaks when the enemy takes the father captive to prevent his son from continuing the battle, but the senior warrior tells his son to fight until the end. Such was the praise met by Alexandre Herculano's penned text Tale of Honour, which is read to Portuguese schoolchildren all over the land, that his body lies in a majestic tomb at the Jeronimos Monastery near to the empty sarcophagus of Luis Vaz de Camoes.

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