Evora Getaway

We drove yesterday morning through the wooded hills outside Evora and visited a prehistoric menhir. Further down the road was the related stone circle at Cremeleques dos Almendres which alone made the whole trip to Evora worthwhile. Both sites are more than 7000 years old, older than the Egyptian Pyramids or Stonehenge! The fact that we had to drive 40 minutes down a heavily rutted dirt road and then walk through dense cork oak forests (with swarms of butterflies) insured that we would be the only visitors. Truly a mystical experience as we try to imagine what life was like for those people so many ages ago.

Evora has several restaurants which are the rivals of any Michelin-starred establishments but at a fraction of the cost. Tres Marmelos is the newest we visited with a highly imaginative menu dictated by whatever herbs, vegetables, etc. are available. But the showstopper was Momentos Evora. A tiny but very cool restaurant with chef Jorge, who's cooked at great restaurants in Vienna, Spain, Andorra and Madeira. Very creative and talented, and he kept coming over to chat with us whenever he could escape the kitchen. The poached shrimp in passion fruit/butter sauce was unbelievably good. The restaurant staff asks guests to take charge of the music via an old 33 1/3 speed phonograph so we listened to Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Dionne Warwick, and Chick Correa, thus turning the evening into something reminiscent of a night in the '60s.

And this morning we visited the 12th century Evora cathedral and climbed to the roof via a scary spiral stone staircase to take in the breathtaking panorama.

On our way back to Lisbon now but I'm sure we'll make it back to Evora for another relaxing getaway. We start a second round of Portuguese language classes next Monday so we need to hit the books this weekend.Read more