MANY day trips and overnight stays — especially to outlying towns and cities in southern Europe where weekend hours for shops and tourist sites can seem almost whimsical — often do little more than whet one’s appetite to return for a proper visit. But, at less than two hours by car from Lisbon, an overnight visit to the storied Portuguese city of Évora and the surrounding area packs a lot into relatively little time.
Overnighter
From Lisbon, Visiting the Storied City of Évora
By ANDREW FERREN
Published: June 24, 2011
Multimedia
To start, there is the stunning combination of Roman, Gothic and Baroque architecture for which Évora has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. But there are many other aspects to the city, which is a bit like its churches — seemingly staid and whitewashed on the outside until you step inside to discover sumptuous interiors adorned with gleaming gold leaf and thousands of dazzling tiles.
Évora makes a great one-night stand because its charms come in varied and delectable bites, much like the petiscos or appetizers that start off most meals here. It also helps that these charms exist in such surprising abundance and proximity — virtually everything in the city is less than five minutes away from everything else — with most major monuments a good bit closer together.
At this walled city’s highest point, a brooding medieval cathedral sits next to the Museum of Évora, which in turn rubs shoulders with the Pousada dos Loios, the city’s state-run hotel set inside a former convent that dates from the 15th century. Facing the Pousada is the tile-encrusted church of St. John the Evangelist, which shares a courtyard with the palace of the noble Cadaval family, who have opened it as a quirky house museum where you’ll find grand family portraits and royal decrees from the family’s glory years in the 17th century as well as some Louis Vuitton luggage from the 20th century’s golden age of travel. In front of the palace are the remains of a Roman temple, and in front of that is a pretty little park with ice-cream vendors and views of Évora’s red tile rooftops and the 16th-century aqueduct stretching off into the distance.
It adds up to about 2,000 years of history in 20 paces, and you can easily see it all in a couple of hours.
The capital of Portugal’s Upper Alentejo region today, Évora has an impressive résumé with stints as an important Roman mercantile center and a fortified Moorish bastion. It became the center of the Portuguese court under the Avis dynasty (1385-1580), when many of its grandest buildings were constructed.
Equally relevant to the city’s appeal today is the fact that the Alentejo is a prime gastronomic and oenological destination, and a relatively inexpensive and unfussy one at that. Simply put, Alentejan food is zestier than most Portuguese fare, with a bolder use of herbs like coriander in a surprising array of dishes. And the region’s excellent, inexpensive wines include crisp, light whites that take the edge off the summer heat and hearty, full-bodied reds that pair perfectly with savory stews and game in cooler months. Most of the country’s excellent ham (“presunto” in Portuguese) and other pork products come from here. As does most of the world’s cork; the region’s famous black-footed pigs fatten themselves up on acorns that drop from the cork and holm oaks looming over the Alentejo’s gently rolling hills.
With summer’s heat already on the rise, mornings are the best time for getting out to explore Évora’s tangle of narrow streets. One of the most unusual sites in the city is the Capela dos Ossos, or Chapel of Bones, at the Church of San Francisco located at the southern edge of the old town. Here the bones and skulls of more than 5,000 monks have been put to striking decorative effect as wall treatment in this 17th-century chapel.
The surrounding streets offer glimpses of local life, with lots of small cafes and taverns and more than a few unusual shops like Lojatelier 73 (Rua Serpa Pinta 73), a brand-new store selling updated local handicrafts including ceramics, as well as aprons, bags and totes that the shop owner Isabel Bilro designs herself.
Like spokes of a wheel, the busiest streets lead into the shaded shopping arcades of Évora’s main square, the Praça do Giraldo in the center of the old city. Here you’ll find the tourist office and major banks as well as several large emporia of colorful linens and ceramics. Just north of the plaza it’s worth seeking out Mont’Sobro at Rua 5 de Outubro 66 for an almost impossibly extensive range of products — from fruit bowls and floor tiles to suitcases and umbrellas all made out of cork. (Even their business cards are printed on paper-thin cork.)
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