Evora

Today we left Lisbon early and took 2 trains to Evora, a 2 1/2 hour trip on the fast trains. Evora is an inland town in the South of Portugal that has some well preserved Roman ruins in a medieval town encircled with 14th century walls. As we passed through Southern Portugal we notied a lot of Pinenut trees and a lot of paddocks of oak trees it wasn't until we saw all the cork products for sale in the markets that we realised they were cork oaks.
Our accommodation is beside the Roman aqueduct. We got our bearings then visited the main square (Praca de Giraldo) had a quick lunch, then toured Evora Cathedral, a roman-gothic building, and then the Roman Temple (ruins). The Cathedral was built on the site of a mosque and there were some tiles from that period visible. There were also Roman parts, pretty impressive. The main, more modern part was stunning rose granite marble. There is a skinny spiral staircase that takes you out onto the rooftop for a view of the town and surrounding countryside.
We also visited Igreja de São Francisco a fantastic tiled church, the tiles celebrate the age of discovery, this church was dedicated to St. Francis. The tiles are stunning and are in arches covering most of the wall. The highlight of the day!
Later we went to Capela dos Ossos (bone chapel) lined with the skulls and bones of about 5000 people. Upstairs there was an interesting collection of 100 or so nativity scenes (randomly). It has been a long church filled day, and tomorrow we leave early again to catch some trains up to Porto.Read more