Mosteiro Santo Agostinho da Serra do Pilar

This guide to Mosteiro Santo Agostinho da Serra do Pilar in Porto opens on 12 May 1809, when French marshal Soult believes the city secure with every crossing watched, until a local barber leads British colonel Waters to a hidden skiff and four unguarded wine barges. It follows General Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, as he sets up his telescope inside this circular monastery to watch his gamble unfold, platoon by platoon crossing the river below. Look at the round church behind you, copied from one in Rome, its cloister ringed by thirty-six matching columns.