Evora, Lisbon, Sintra
14-17 Mar 2026
Next stop Evora… just a 2.3km walk from our campsite to the centre of the “old city”… which of course, you will by now realise – means that there has been a human presence here for some time… in this case more than five millennia … oh and by the way its official name is the “Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Evora”… a glorious title by anyone’s imagination! The Celts appear to have been here first. he Romans conquered the town in 57 BC and expanded it into a walled town. In the fourth century, the town had already a bishop, named Quintianus. In 584 Évora came under the rule of the Visigothic king Leovigild. The Moors came along in 715 (i.e. conquered it)… but, it was wrested from the Moors through a surprise attack by Gerald the Fearless in September 1165. The French, during the Peninsula War (1808-14) stormed the town and slaughtered the defenders and non-combatants alike before thoroughly pillaging the place. By now, considering previous posts, this series of events (with different dates) should be feeling quite familiar.
We entered via one of the gates in the walls. While the oldest of the walls are Roman… this one probably only dates from the 17th Century. Once inside the walls – the “thing” that immediately confronts you is “cork”… in so very many forms! Handbags, wallets, shoes, clothing etc. The bark is stripped from the Cork Oak trees up to the first branches in the trunk (Portugal produces 50% of the world’s cork products). It’s a long process… A tree must grow for approximately 25 years before its bark is thick enough for the first harvest. For the second harvest (from the same tree) you have to wait about 10 years. But the best quality cork comes from the third harvest – when the tree is 40 – 50 years old!
We climbed the Cathedral, and took a walk on the roof…
Visited the interior – more gold covered altar pieces.. and inspected a most curious painting of the Last Supper.
Note the animal on the table, in front of Jesus…. Does it not look like a pig? Apparently, the interpretation is that it is a “large roasted guinea pig” – which may hint that the paining’s origin is South American – as in Peru they are regarded to this day as a great culinary delicacy, being commonly found on restaurant menus and consumed on festive occasions.
Then we came to Saint Francis Church, built between the 15th and 16th Centuries in mixed Gothic-Manueline styles… and lots of Baroque “decoration” – the most curious of which is the “Chapel of Bones… because its interior walls are covered and decorated with human skulls and bones. Perhaps 5,000 corpses were exhumed to decorate the walls of the chapel. The bones, came from ordinary people who were buried in Évora's medieval cemeteries.
Inside the Capela dos Ossos a poem about the need to reflect on one's existence hangs in an old wooden frame on one of the pillars.
Pause...do not advance your travel.
You have no greater concern than this one:
That which is now before your eyes.
Reflect on your similar end.
There is good reason to do so;
If only all did the same.
Among the many concerns of the world,
So little do you reflect on death.
This is a “big one”… but the one I liked the most was a simple, single piece carved from wood… In my mind it captures the wonder of the birth of Jesus, as told in the Bible in a carving of the most important figures, Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the Shepherds (and the star!).
As it was Saturday, there was a “medieval” market outside the old walls of the city. And as it seems with all markets… half the stalls are selling food (and very well supported… and the others cover a range from sellers of crystals to alcohol, and entertainment, in this case, the most interesting kind was a merry-go-round, powered by a man peddling .. that drove a wheel, that drove another wheel etc… that made the merry go round, go, well, round and round!
Birds of prey were also in attendance – but no photographs allowed… as Karilyn discovered! But in a much gentler way than the response she got when sitting on a “Roman era” stone seat in the Amphitheatre in Merida!
We must be becoming a little jaded – as Evora did not excite us as much as the many other places we have been…
We walked back to the campsite… and in so doing kept our step count up for another day – which typically ranges between 16,000 and 19,000 on each day we are “visiting” a city / site.
Time to move on from our Orbitur Evora campsite – to Lisbon (Lisboa). We decided that we needed three days in Lisbon – which precluded using a motorhome park over (we would run out of power as BF has no solar panels. There are only 2 campsites in Lisbon – one with bad reviews (in the city), and one with good reviews at Cascais – which is on the coast west of the city. We chose that later – and opted for the “scenic route”… which excluded motorway travel.
I must
make one comment here; about the roads we have encountered in Portugal. Still
no chip seal (good!)… and when the tarmac is in good condition – silent travel
(good!)… but when the same material is beyond it’s use by date – it is
dreadful. Patches on patches, and when not patched – potholes deep enough to do
real damage… we passed one that even had its own cone in it (and it was not on
the edge of the road). Just before crossing the Targus river at
Vila Franca de
Xira, we had lunch on the side of the river… and had just 70km to go to the
campsite.
We crossed the bridge (a km or so in length)… and for the next 65km or so we drove entirely on city streets… where the speed limit was most often 50km (or slower), there were an uncounted (but large) number of multi-lane roundabouts – and lots and lots of traffic (it being a Sunday)… exhausting.
But Cascais turns out to be the Riviera of Portugal – and a lovely location. Its also quite a long way from Lisbon – but getting there is “easy”. First, take the bus from the campsite to the Train Station in Cascais, then the Train to Lisbon (about 50 minutes) – but a beautiful ride along the coast… getting off the train at Cais do Sodre – because the train doesn’t actually go all the way to the central station (Rosario) – and only discovered after lots of people go on the train (while we were waiting for it to continue)… and sitting facing backwards… time to ask a question… yes the train is about to go back the way it has come. So, quickly exit and move to the Metro – and continue on to Martim Moniz so that we can take the widely regards No 28 tram tour. Sure… the line to get on the trams was perhaps 90 minutes long. An enterprising Tuk Tuk driver (Jaoa) approached us with a suggestion that he could help us out – for just €70 - in his "beautiful" Tuk Tuk...
We a his soft sell – so took him up on his offer (which by then we had negotiated down to €60. It was a great way to see the city – and get a guided tour at the same time (and as it turns out – even more exciting than travelling on the No 28 tram!)!
Lisbon is built on 7 hills – so there is a lot of up and down travel, in going from place to place (certainly more hilly than Wellington)… but it was also almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake on 1 November 1755 – so much of what we now see is, by European standards, quite new… including the use of a grid street pattern following the Earthquake – but one part that retains its “Arab characteristics” is the Alfama (historic) district – which means narrow streets and a complicated street “layout”. We looked from above… across the Alfama district, and beyond that the Targus River Estuary.
Tuk Tuks "to go..."
Being a delivery driver in Lisbon definitely has its challenges too, be that narrow streets, and/or trams.
Watching workmen make the “cobbled” pavement was interesting too… a time consuming process, a little like a jigsaw puzzle – but with a rock, hammer and sand!
We enjoyed “lunch” at a Restaurant frequented by the locals – it was a hive of activity – as orders were made, delivered and cleaned up to be replaced by the next diner(s).
Next it was a walk to the water front to check out the triumphal arch, the he Rua Augusta Arch, built to commemorate the city's reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.. The statue on the horse in the Praça do Comércio is King Joseph I, who - among other activities, was devoted to hunting and the opera - was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777..
We also visited the Church of Saint Domininc, dedicated in 1241, and once the largest church in Lisbon, and prior to the formation of the Republic in 1910, often hosted Royal weddings.
Formerly the home of the Inquisition, Jesuit missionary Gabriel Malagrida was famously executed at the church in 1761 after being accused of treason. In 1506, the church and the church square were the scenes of the Lisbon massacre when thousands of New Christians (previously converted Jews) were murdered by a "Christian" mob.
But as you can see “it is different” from other churches we have seen in our travels, and the reason is that. In 1959 the church was devastated once more (the precious time being the Lisbon Earthquake) when a fire broke out in the building. The fire,which killed two firefighters, took more than six hours to extinguish and completely gutted the church, destroying many important paintings and statues. In 1994 the church reopened. The restoration left many signs of the fire in place. Given its past – may be this fire was a cleansing(?)… but today it was a nice place to visit – and the absence of gold this and that, very refreshing.
But now it was time for Tram No 28. We walked back to Martim Moniz, and got on the second tram that came along – the queue was now, just 10 minutes long! And yest it is an exciting ride… but didn’t quite compare to the drama of the Tuk Tuk ride – and the display of driving (and parking) abilities of the locals..
At which point we discovered that Tram No 28 does not return to Martim Moniz at the end of its “circuit”… So a bit of a walk to the nearest Metro station (Google Maps is wonderful!)… then 3 different Metro lines (I,e. two changes of line) to get back to Cais do Sodre to catch the train back to Cascais, followed by the Bus back to our Orbitur Guincho camp site. Quite a few steps today.
For those who have been to Lisbon – you will notice that we have not commented on two trademark monuments – the Belem Tower, and the Monument of Discoveries. We had thought that we might visit them when leaving Lisbon – but it was raining – so we decided that after already seeing them three times; once in BF, and twice by train, then that seemed to be “enough”. Just one last thing to do – visit a beach at Cascais… to appreciate how cold the water is along this coast.
So Lisbon in Summary: a Bus to a Train, to the Metro, to a Tuk Tuk, then “a Walk” ,ending at a Tram, followed by a walk to a the Metro orange line, followed by a change to the blue Metro line (Blue), then to the green Metro Line, and onto the Train to Cascais, and lastly… a Bus to the Campsite.
That left us with one more day in the Lisbon Area – so the logical next place to visit was Sintra – and it was easy to get there via Uber (at just €11 each way). Another place occupied since time in memoriam i.e. from the 5th Millenium BC at least. It has suffered through wars and the 1755 earthquake (for example the castle is a 19th Century recreation of the original that was destroyed by the earthquake). From the 18th Century onwards it became a magnet for writers and artists… Here is a brief summary: In 1757, the novelist Henry Fielding, feeling ill, retired to a mansion in Sintra, which he considered the most beautiful place on earth to write a new novel. The poet Robert Southey also lived in Sintra with his wife and children and challenged the other English Romantics to do the same. Samuel Taylor Coleridge imitated him and described Sintra as a garden of Eden on the edge of a silvery sea, and the poet William Wordsworth also visited the region. In 1809 Lord Byron wrote to his friend Francis Hodgson (1781–1852) saying that the village of Sintra is perhaps the most beautiful in the world. In the poem Childe, Harold Pilgrimag and Byron referred to "Cintra's glorious Eden", etc.
Sintra, like Lisbon is a bit up and down too… with the Pena Palace being at around 500m elevation, and the village being at 175m (where we arrived by our Uber). But given our experience with a Tuk Tuk in Lisbon – it was not hard to be convinced by another Tuk Tuk driver to “show us around”… again, after a short negotiation leading to a reduced price. This time – we were in an electric Tuk Tuk. After another exciting ride, we eventually alighted at the Pena Palace – which is perhaps one of the most recognisable landmarks of Portugal – but like the Neuschwanstein (Cinderella) Castle in Germany… the iconic view is not really achievable without a drone or similar. But by climbing to the “High Cross (Cruz Altra) – a similar view is possible… if one climbs up onto the Cross (a slightly perilous activity!)… but worth it for a “good picture”.
On the advice of our Tuk Tuk driver (whose name, we have sadly misplaced!) – we opted for the “tour of the exterior and gardens”… which equalled no waiting, to enter the Palace… and lots of nice views.
Watching all the “selfies” or equivalents…
Of course we visited the village too . and consumed some more pastel de nata tarts (Portuguese Custard Tarts) – in this case from a shop in Sintra that has been making them for a long time! The original recipe was named pastéis de Belém, and was created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching clothes. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country. In 1834, the monastery was closed and the recipe sold to the sugar refinery, whose owners opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém in 1837. The descendants own the business to this day, and since the opening of Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, the original recipe that inspired pastel de nata varieties is kept in a secret room.
Another significant palace in Sintra is the National Palace of Sintra – so we used our Senior’s status to visit that Palace too…
Today, it is a museum, where they are trying to recreate the Palace’s former glory though restoration and research. The purpose of many of the rooms is to this day, not well understood, and much of the interior decorations have been lost – but not in the “Coat of Arms” Room… whose dome bears the arms of King Manuel I, his sons and seventy-two of the most important families of the Nobility. The wall covering dates from the eighteenth century, the work of great masters of Lisbon tiles at the time.
We called for another Uber - which turned out to be a luxurious, large BYD model not seen in NZ (to my knowledge)... I noticed that when accelerating (which he (the driver, David) did quite often... he was applying more than 130kW of power - so progress was quite rapid! (and after we got out... we noticed that rapid progress, on narrow streets etc... can lead to some brushes with hard materials!). Anyhow - we got back to BF in quick time... and before long the heavens opened (with rain!)... which overnight sounded quite like “west coast” rain – soothing!
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