May 27th ~ Evora

Another beautiful day dawned over the huge lake below Monsaraz. El Gran Largo (the great reservoir) is apparently the largest artificial lake in Europe, 83 km long and occupies 13% of the county area. It must be quite recent, as it is not shown on the map – just rivers.

After breakfast, we made for Evora, a “must see city of outstanding beauty” according to the guide books. The city is surrounded by imposing walls, with several main entry points. We did a whistle stop tour of the main sites inc Cathedral, a few churches, Roman temple, Castle etc..However, there were 2 memorable sites. The Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) in the Church of Sao Fransisco. It is a timeless and gruesome memorial to the mortality of man, with the walls, pillars and ceilings of the chapel covered in the bones of over 5,000 monks. The skulls, tibias and vertebrae are artfully arranged, with the occasional full skeleton, and the inscription above the door reads “We bones here are waiting for your bones”.The other remarkable construction barely mentioned in the guide books is the Aqueducto do Agua Prata (Silver Water Aqueduct), which stretches for 7 km and brought water to the City from Roman times. Where the Aqueduct enters the City, houses have been constructed under the arches.

Apart from the latter 2 sites, we did’nt enjoy Evora as much as other places for some unknown reason – perhaps it did’nt live up to its billing in the guidebooks. In the afternoon, we drove to Os Almendres, and had a lovely 8 km walk, taking in a 3 metres Menhir and a stone circle, one of a dozen megalithic sites around here. The walk was through a cork oak plantation and all the meadows were covered in wild flowers and we caught a glimpse of another hoopoe.

Checked into the local campsite which had wifi and caught up with e mails , skype calls etc.