Évora 3

Tuesday evening we decided that, though there a quite a few listed "attractions" we hadn't seen, we would spend the next day exploring the city wall and the parks on our way to the aqueduct.

When I went out at about 6:30 am to check out the public park (which is just inside the wall) in the early morning light, it was about 3 degrees C. Fortunately, the sun was shining so the light was excellent, but the park was closed! Back to the hotel for breakfast. When we set out for the park just after 8:30 it had warmed considerably and the park was now open.

When you enter you are in a beautiful tree covered area with lots of flower beds around and a small outdoor sitting drinking coffee area. Then you come to this white building which is the remains of the 16th century Palace of Dom Manuel, also known as the Royal palace of São Francisco (the church of St. Francis is immediately next to the park). The original palace, built by the Avis dynasty, was a mixture of Gothic, Manueline, neo-Moorish and Renaissance styles. What remains here today is the Gallery of Ladies, where it is said that Vasco da Gama received his command of the expedition he led to discover the sea route to India. What is very recognizable in the photo are the Moorish arches both on some of the windows and in the portico at the end of the building. Remember to click on any photo to see a larger version.

Continuing past the palace remains we found totally unexpected moorish ruins - no indication of what they were. Likely built by the Moors during their "occupation" of this area but what it was is a mystery.

This area was also populated, for some reason, by peacocks wandering about freely and despite the apparent freedom they seemed not to leave the area.

Our intent was to stay near the wall so we moved on, still in a park-like area until we came to a picnic area where there were stone or concrete tables and chairs.

It was a beautiful setting and the tables and benches looked neat in the mix of sun and shade but I can't imagine they would be too comfortable. Neither of us tried sitting on the chairs, so can't comment on it.

We stayed along the wall, inside when possible, but there are very nice walkways outside the walls as well.

Part of the inside walk was a bit tricky as the street we chose was very narrow and the sidewalk equally narrow. Even so, we reached the aqueduct more quickly than we expected.

The aqueduct was built between 1531 and 1537 on the direction of King João III in order to supply water to the town of Évora. It was designed by Francisco de Arruda, the same architect who had designed the Belem Tower in Lisboa. The length of the aqueduct isn't entirely clear - the information I have found puts it somewhere between 9 and 18 Kilometers. Also, I am not sure of the water source so at the moment not at all sure of the length. And it originally terminated at Praça de Giraldo; it now ends not far from the wall in the northwestern part of the walled city, some distance from the Praça.

Under the arches of the aqueduct within the city wall people have built things, including homes, and one of those homes has a very nice chimney pot for my growing collection of chimney pot photos! Enlarge the photo and you will see it.

Having satisfied our objectives for the day early, we decided to check out the the Roman gate towers and the Largo das Portas de Moura, but first we took this street on our way to a very nice little cafe, Café da Violette for a sumos de laranja (orange juice).

Then on to Praça de Giraldo en route to the towers and Largo das Portas de Moura, with some shopping along the way. We had excellent help from an extremely friendly and enthusiastic young man who has worked in his mother's small gift store for 22 years!

There was no problem understanding the Roman gate towers. Here you can see the two square gate towers with the cathedral towers behind. But the Portas de Moura was another matter.

The Portus de Moura were quite obvious and attractive but exactly what their presence here was about was not clear to us, though much is made of this Renaissance style fountain of the 16th century.

But nothing we could find explains the Moorish gates, seen more clearly in this photo.

Near this square we sat under a sun umbrella and had a relaxing late lunch of tosta com presunto e queijo e sumos de laranja (essentially a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and orange juice) at a small outdoor cafe. Then we made our way back to Cafe Violette for treats,

a brief rest in a Largo nearby (where we saw this tree against the very blue sky) before walking to the bus terminal and the 3 hour bus ride. So, the end of a couple of excellent days!