Things to Do in Evora

Portuguese ceramics for sale in Evora

By Christopher Minster

For a smallish town, Évora has a great many things to see and do: for visitors, it may be difficult to decide where to go first!

The center of town, known as Praça do Giraldo, is a good place to start. Once used by the Inquisition as their own private heretic barbecue pit, the plaza is now a pleasant place to stroll, shop or grab some strong Portuguese coffee at a sidewalk café.

If you’re ready to buy some locally made souvenirs, which include good pottery and anything made of cork, head up the Rua 5 de Outubro, a narrow street lined with souvenir shops. The street will take you up to the Loios Convent and Évora’s most famous monument, the Roman Temple of Diana. Miraculously, 14 of the 18 original pillars of the temple are still standing. In July 2007, the temple was nominated as one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal, although it didn’t win.

One other can’t-miss in Évora is the world-famous Bone Chapel, or Capela dos Ossos. Built as a sort of annex onto the San Francisco Cathedral in the 16th century by a couple of monks that wanted to remind everyone of their own mortality, the chapel is considered beautiful by some and grisly by others, but no one thinks it’s boring. No one knows who the bones belonged to: the monks dug up a local cemetery to get the bones, which were already old in the 16th century.

If you’re this deep in Portugal, you’re probably sick of cathedrals, but the Sé in Évora is worth a visit. Construction began in 1186, not long after the city was taken from the Moors. It is an interesting mix of Gothic and Romanesque styles, and the renaissance organ is thought to be one of the oldest in Europe. The choir stalls are also impressive. There is a sacred art museum inside the cathedral. The city museum is right next door: it offers some good information on the long and complicated history of this beautiful town.

If you’ve had enough of the distant past, check out the well-kept public gardens near the church and adjacent to Dom Manuel’s palace. Outside of town you’ll find the ruins of an old aqueduct that once ran all of the way to the central plaza.