Evora, Portugal

Evora was a one night stop as we wanted to see a little village on the hill, about an hours drive out of town. We were told there may not be anything open because it was a holiday, but we could go and just walk around. We decided to go early, so we could travel to Lagos in the afternoon. We weren't expecting much, except a fun drive in the countryside and were thoroughly surprised.

It was typical for the church, or monestary, to be set in the center, or above, a geographical area where it then served all the little towns and communities around it.

We had to appreicate the trek up the mountain for those folks in the lowlands. You can see in this picture how many little towns there were, just in the direction of our picture. There are big cities for sure, but there are many, many more little towns. We drove through several and they are very quaint.

Just outside the gate, across a field, was the skeleton of the old church.

This is the interior where people actually live. The roads are all so narrow so we parked outside the walls and walked in. We were so glad we got there early, because as the morning warmed up, the tourists began to arrive. Several of the shops and little restaurants opened and it was business as usual.

An interesting part of this community was a bullfighting arena. I had to try my hand…. glad there weren't any bulls… I wasn't very good at it 😅.

What are all these people doing you say? The backdrop of this mountain is so beautiful, there was a full team photographing two models for sunglasses, jewelry, etc. It was quite the production and just outside the walls.

This wall is made of stone… or is it? It is now, but it appeared to be wood at one point. That's how old this is.

But we weren't done yet. In the center of Evora is a walled community, a city in a city. This is one of the entrances to this very old town.

A beautiful little city, in a bigger city.

From the mountain top, we could see water in the distance and decided to do a driveby on our way south. There were boats, campers, and families enjoying the lake on a holiday. Absolutely beautiful.