Where: Evora, Portugal
When: August 27, 2012
With: Dave
Our final historical city on our drive through Portugal was the town of Evora. At this point, we thought we'd seen all the walled-in castle cities, but this one did not disappoint. First of all, it didn't sit on top of a mountain like the last ones (thankfully - don't know if our car could have handled another). Second, there weren't any surviving castle ruins.
But before we discovered all of this, we took a slight detour before the city. Turning off the highway onto dusty side roads, we finally got a close-up look at the cork trees that had surrounded us our entire drive. The cork is harvested by stripping the bark right off the tree. The process leaves the wood underneath raw, red and exposed. It will take seven years for the bark to regrow, and all the trees were marked with a number, 1-7, to show number of years since it's last harvest.
While we were happy to see the trees up close, the main reason for our detour was Cromeleque dos Almendres, or the Stonehenge of Portugal. At the end of a dirt road reachable only by foot, settled amongst the red cork trees, is a large opening containing large stones that date back to 2,000 B.C and have been arranged to line up with the summer and winter solstice. Similar to Stonehenge, no one really knows why they were put here.
Some of the stones have very subtle carvings in them of faces and shapes that have been worn down over the last 4,000 years. These just add to the mystery of what these stones were for.
After getting our pagan on, it was time to pile back into the car and head into Evora. This was the easiest drive into the city we'd had yet - no hills, no tight archways. Just one small snafu that involved leaving a parking break on while driving, and we were ready to go!
The bones were unearthed from various Evora churchyards and assembled by three monks in the 1600s.
We continued to wander the streets until sundown, stopping for glasses of sangria and watching the locals go about their lives until it was dinner time. We ate one of the best meals of our trip at a place called Taberna Tipica Quarta-Feira. The small restaurant had no menu - you eat whatever is in season that the chef feels like cooking that night. As soon as we sat down, a carafe of house wine was plopped down onto our table and the food started coming, plate after plate. Within two hours, we needed to be rolled out the door we were so full...and Dave would have kept going until his stomach split, it was just..so...good.
We strolled around in the dark for a little while, attempting to work off our giant, full bellies, admiring the Roman temple and pretending that we too were Roman.
When: August 27, 2012
With: Dave
Our final historical city on our drive through Portugal was the town of Evora. At this point, we thought we'd seen all the walled-in castle cities, but this one did not disappoint. First of all, it didn't sit on top of a mountain like the last ones (thankfully - don't know if our car could have handled another). Second, there weren't any surviving castle ruins.
But before we discovered all of this, we took a slight detour before the city. Turning off the highway onto dusty side roads, we finally got a close-up look at the cork trees that had surrounded us our entire drive. The cork is harvested by stripping the bark right off the tree. The process leaves the wood underneath raw, red and exposed. It will take seven years for the bark to regrow, and all the trees were marked with a number, 1-7, to show number of years since it's last harvest.
While we were happy to see the trees up close, the main reason for our detour was Cromeleque dos Almendres, or the Stonehenge of Portugal. At the end of a dirt road reachable only by foot, settled amongst the red cork trees, is a large opening containing large stones that date back to 2,000 B.C and have been arranged to line up with the summer and winter solstice. Similar to Stonehenge, no one really knows why they were put here.
The city within the walls is fairly small, though bigger than the last couple towns we'd been in. The city's center point is the Praca do Giraldo. This used to be the main market for the city. Now it's home to some beautiful Moorish architecture and was the location of our lunch.
Coming out of the center, like spokes on a wheel, are tiny little alleyways that wind and stretch all the way to the walls. Some of the streets still show the original walls dating back to the Roman occupation of the city. They blend seamlessly into the whitewashed houses that became the common style in the 17th century.
Lo and behold, a city archway we didn't have to drive through.
One of the more striking sites in the city is the Roman Temple to Diana. Constructed in the 1st century AD, it used to be the focal point of the city's market, but now serves as a backdrop for concerts and city events.
The other big draw of Evora is the Church of St. Francis with its Chapel of Bones. I never expected to see one chapel of bones, let alone 3 in one year, but apparently this is a thing over here in Europe.
The wonderfully inspirational quote over the doorway leading visitors in? "We bones in here wait for yours to join us." Lovely.
The bones were unearthed from various Evora churchyards and assembled by three monks in the 1600s.
The most gruesome part of the chapel (and that's saying a lot in a chapel with wall-to-wall bones) was a hanging body, complete with a shining spotlight to make sure you don't miss it.
The relative simplicity of the actual church associated with the chapel doesn't give away what lies next door at all.
After giving ourselves a good case of the heebie-jeebies, we decided to head out to the public gardens for some fresh air and life. We plopped on a bench and attempted to cool off while watching the world go by (this city was REALLY hot).
Next, we decided to be scholarly and explore the town's famous university. Inside, the university looked just like every other school, except for all the quintessentially Portuguese blue tile decorations.
The most beautiful part of the school was the courtyard in the center. You forget you're in a university.
Leaving the university grounds, we had a good laugh watching this dog nearly leap out his window to bark at passer-bys on the street.
We continued to wander the streets until sundown, stopping for glasses of sangria and watching the locals go about their lives until it was dinner time. We ate one of the best meals of our trip at a place called Taberna Tipica Quarta-Feira. The small restaurant had no menu - you eat whatever is in season that the chef feels like cooking that night. As soon as we sat down, a carafe of house wine was plopped down onto our table and the food started coming, plate after plate. Within two hours, we needed to be rolled out the door we were so full...and Dave would have kept going until his stomach split, it was just..so...good.
We strolled around in the dark for a little while, attempting to work off our giant, full bellies, admiring the Roman temple and pretending that we too were Roman.
The streets were pleasantly quiet as we strolled home. Sadly, we couldn't take advantage of the night life as a 10am car rental return the next day 3 hours away meant we had to be up and out the door by 6am. But Evora proved to be a lovely little city.
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