Evora

I love walled towns. The romanticism of being in a city entirely surrounded by walls invokes the sense of actually living the history of that place -- of being part of something older than you can imagine.  Evore is one of those places.

We managed to book a nice AirBnB just inside the walls, We had to park in a lot outside the walls and bring our luggage in through the city gates along narrow cobblestone streets to our apartment where we were met by our host Natalie. She gave us the keys and showed us to our suite which was pretty much the entire second floor -- large bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen / sitting area.

Evora is a whitewashed town of narrow streets, cobblestone lanes, and a working city mixed with historical sites. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986. Évora has a history dating back more than five thousand years. It was known as Ebora by the Celtici, who made the town their regional capital. Ebora was the plural form of the celtic word for Yew, which was a common tree in the area. The city of York in northern England was known to the Romans as Eboracum -- meaning "Place of the Yew Trees" referring to Evora.

The Romans conquered Evora in 57BC and expanded the town into a completely walled city. Many remnants of Roman architecture can still be seen in Evora including the city walls and the Roman bath. A monumental temple to Diane was built in the 1st century AD and still stands majestically in a city square outside the university.

After the decline of the roman empire in the 4th century, the city of Evora came under the rule of the visigoths in the 5th century and then the moors in the 8th century. Many moorish influences can still be seen in the architecture and especially the colors of the buildings. In 1165, the Portugese recaptured Evora from the Moors and it became quite popular with the Portugese royalty serving as the royal court for many years.

The Cathedral of Evora was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1988. The cornerstone was laid in 1184 and subsequently enlarged and modified over the years. It is the largest mediaeval cathedral in Portugal. It is commonly believed that flags of the fleet of Vasco da Gama, on his first expedition to the Orient, were blessed in the first presbytery of the cathedral in 1497

Another must-see attraction in Evora is the Chapel of Bones. The Chapel of Bones is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis, and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century.

The Chapel’s story is a familiar one. By the 16th century, there were as many as 43 cemeteries in and around Évora that were taking up valuable land. Not wanting to condemn the souls of the people buried there, the monks decided to build the Chapel and relocate the bones.

However, rather than interring the bones behind closed doors, the monks, who were concerned about society’s values at the time, thought it best to put them on display. They thought this would provide Évora, a town noted for its wealth in the early 1600s, with a helpful place to meditate on the transience of material things in the undeniable presence of death. This is made clear by the thought-provoking message above the chapel door: “Nós ossos que aqui estamos, pelos vossos esperamos,” or: “We bones, are here, waiting for yours.”

The bones of over 5000 corpses are interred here including the bones of the three Franciscan monks who founded the church in the 13th century. Also included are two desiccated corpses in glass coffins that were formerly hanging by chains from the wall next to a cross. One is that of a child.

After touring the chapel, we visited the Church of St. Francis of which the chapel is a part. The Church was  built between 1475 and 1550, replacing an earlier building built in 1226.

Leaving the church, we visited a small market right across the square.  The shop sold everything from salted cod to fresh eggs (which are stored in open baskets on the shelf!)  It was here that we noticed a large peacock wandering between the tables begging for food scraps.

On our walk back to our room, we passed right under the aqueduct. It was very interesting to note that many houses and shops have been built in the arches of the aqueduct!