Michael and Pam's Travels Our European Motorhome Adventures and other Travels
Michael and Pam's Travels

Évora, Portugal 🇵🇹 2019

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Date: 27th August 2019

Travelled: 179 kms from Ericeira to Évora in the Province of Alentejo

Visited: Évora

Stayed: Évora municipal aire, free with services. N38.56357, W07.91695

Budget: 79 days @ €75 per day

Our stay in Ericeira is done, but we give the Hymer a clean in the Intermarché car-wash, fill with cheap Intermarché diesel and do a quick shop at the Lidl across the road before we say goodbye.

We set the GPS for Évora in the Province of Alentejo. It’s around 160 kms east of Lisbon in central Portugal. We take the tollway to avoid Lisbon’s congestion.

We cross the Vasco De Gama Bridge, at 17.2 kms in length, the longest bridge in Europe.
According to Google it remarkably only took 3 years to complete. 18 months of planning and pre-construction works, then 18 months to knock it together.
You’d by lucky to add a two room extension to your house in that length of time in Sydney.

Once across the Rio Tejo the landscape changes rapidly as does the temperature.

White stork nest’s must keep the power companies busy. Amazing !

15 kms west of Évora, we turn for Cromeleque dos Almendres.

  • We find the information centre easily enough, thinking we will walk to the site.
  • The advisor tell us you can walk but it’s 5 kms. Should have given it a miss then.
  • 4 kms up this corrugated dusty road we stop at the first site. It’s about 500m down a heavily rutted path.
  • Pam is drawn to the large single stone surrounded by a few stunted olive trees. At first I thought that some force within this ancient stone had drawn her to it. But no it’s the shade she tells me…
  • Another kilometre further along we find the second site. The stones date back to the megalithic period according to the blurb.
  • The stones here form a circle of sorts but it’s no Stonehenge. The stones are smaller hence Pam finds them less interesting.
What we do find interesting are the surrounding groves of cork trees. They are a type of oak, these trees have been recently stripped. Roughly speaking the tree can only be stripped every 10 years.

Evora, Alentejo, Portugal

Map of Évora, the icon on our parking spot

We arrive in Évora in the mid-afternoon heat, find a spot in the shade and rest the afternoon away. The aire is large with plenty of shade depending on the time of day. There are about a dozen motorhomes here now, by sunset the number doubles.

On the Plaça de Giraldo.
  • Roman stuff !
  • Part of the 8.5 km Aqueduto da Água de Prata. We thought, perhaps it was Roman, but it was built a thousand years after they left Évora..
  • The aqueduct was in fact completed in 1530 to bring fresh water into the city.
The Jardim de Diana,
  • The Templo Romano, the only remaining segment of a Roman Forum that once existed in Évora.
  • The temple dates to the late 2nd century (Roman).
The Sé, dominates Evora from all directions, it’s unusual steeple can be seen from almost anywhere around town. It dates to 1186, we balk at the €4.50 entry fee.
Evora has everything including a Coomur Sardine Shop.

We have walked the laneways and plaça of Évora for a couple of hours finding it a beautiful place and a pleasure to explore. So Évora is done and time to move along.

We return to the Hymer, do the services and make ready for the road. As we set the GPS for Mértola, its already looking like a very hot day.

Michael and Pam

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