Evora is the capital of Portugal’s south-central region Alentejo.
Due to its well preserved town centre which is still partially enclosed by medieval walls and the large amount of monuments Evora is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The first monument we visited was the Roman Temple of Evora. This is one of Evora’s most famous landmarks and stands at 7.68 metres high. Its been a few months since we have seen any Roman temples and it was nice to stand and admire this one.
The Cathedral is very impressive and one of the most important gothic monuments in Portugal.
You can even pay an extra euro to go up the tower.
There are some great restaurants in Evora. We chose to have lunch in a vegetarian café. It was buffet style and your plate was weighed, so it was up to us to make sure the pile of food wasn’t too high!
The real highlight for us was visiting the chapel attached to Saint Francis Church. the church is impressive church in its own right but the star of the show is the Chapel of Bones.
The Chapel of Bones was built in the 16th century by a Franciscan friar who, in the Counter- Reformation spirit of that era, wanted to prod his fellow brothers into contemplation and transmit the message of ‘life being transitory’.
‘We bones that are here are, for yours await’
About 5000 friars skeletons were used, coming from the cemeteries in the surrounding areas.
Plenty to see and do in Evora. We spent 3 days wandering around and certainly in our opinion a highlight of our trip so far.
