The southeast area of Portugal is mostly plains and is more arid, and hot in the summer than the other areas we visited. Since it was still May, it was not too warm. But it was clear that heat plays a role in the housing and agriculture. Evora is in the Alentejo area and vineyards are important here. Of the 8 wine subregions in Alentejo, 5 are around Evora. A UNESCO city since 1986, Evora's heyday was really when Portuguese kings lived there in the 1600's. Prior to that, the Moors occupied Evora for over 500 years. But we found plenty of Roman buildings and even stone monuments older than Stonehenge, from megolithic period.
 |
| 1st cent Roman temple in center of town |
 |
| palace Moorish turrets |
 |
| Moorish influence on Royal Palace, now a museum |
 |
| public gardens, made to look older than it is |
 |
| details from Bone Chapel in church of St Francis |
 |
| bones of monks, nuns, orphans who lived here |
 |
| turk enjoys espresso, Praca do Giraldo, who outsted Moors 1165 |
 |
| Cathedral - 1204, Romanesque and Gothic mix |
 |
| noting Jewish influence on church |
 |
| all statues were originally painted |
 |
| gold sanctuary |
 |
| carver's image of employer, who he didnt like |
 |
| ancient symbols now have different meaning |
 |
| rare pregnant Mary statues |
 |
| effeminate Jesus, with breasts |
 |
| symbol of inquisition on wall of Inquisition Court at Évora |
 |
| Roman structure on Evora side street |
 |
tiled steps inside main door from street of home
|
 |
| cork stripped from tree |
 |
| cork stripping tools |
 |
| cork flattened and assessed for quality |
 |
| cork tree, numbered to ID year harvested. Wait 7yrs for next |
 |
| workers sorting the cork |
 |
| cork products including furniture! |
 |
| Evoramonte Castle 1160 |
 |
| gravestones showing Knights Templar and Jewish participation |
 |
| Esporao winery |
 |
| amphoras, concrete tanks along with wood barrels |
 |
| foot stomping vats for some grapes |
 |
| table, light in wine cave-made of barrel wood |
 |
| winery guests-woman car club |
 |
| stunning! and young men to assist the drives |
 |
| some tasting!!! |
 |
| view from tasting room, restaurant |
 |
| appetizer in our wine/food pairing lunch |
 |
| beautiful veggies on rosemary |
 |
| fish course |
 |
| dessert! sorbet and strawberries |
Our search for the Menhir was crazed and without guidance. Driving down farm roads in the middle of nowhere, I was 'sure' we were close. After grumbling by the Turk, we noticed a small sign on a farm gate that said, in Portuguese to please close the gate. Hmm, why would such a sign exist unless this was a gate meant to be open! And despite the difficulty in opening it, we drove in, guessed which direction when the road split, and ended up where we wanted to be!
 |
| struggling with the gate |
 |
| this road doesnt look like it goes anywhere |
 |
| found it!!! |
 |
| the story of the Menhir - largest found!! |
On our way out of town from Estremoz to Algarve, we passed through some towns, but mostly plains. We stopped in Beja to see the area and have lunch. What a cute town, of course with castle. Even though we'd been in Portugal for almost 3 weeks at this point, we were still in awe of the assortment and volume of fresh seafood available in even the smallest markets.
 |
| Beja castle |
 |
| we noticed bull fighting is done in Portugal- in Beja for sure |
 |
| fresh eels |
 |
| fresh snails |
 |
| fresh something |
 |
| wine cave at back of grocery, also has cereal, dogfood! |
No comments:
Post a Comment