Portugal Day 3: Evora! Bone Church and Live Fado!

morning: BREAKFAST at home and train to evora

I love having breakfast at home on travel days! Eating out gets pricey over time, and feels uncomfortable besides.
The train was easy, simply book on the Portugal train website. The Evora train only has a few- it’s better to drive if you can, but the train works well enough. Because our apartment was nowhere near the metro stations, we always had to Uber to them (word to the wise, book near public transit) in order to make our train times. But after that it was simple. I would recommend getting to the train station (we booked at Lisboa Oriente) at least ten minutes early, so you can get oriented (hah) and figure out where all the train lines are and such.

The train was about twenty minutes longer than the hour and a half scheduled time- keep in mind if you are planning appointments. It was comfortable and air conditioned, and my preferred way to travel because it’s so simple!

getting to the main event

Just a quick note- Evora is easy to traverse, just use your Google Maps. From the train station, walk about twenty minutes to the town center. It’s a very easy, flat walk, especially comparable to Lisbon. We booked tickets to the Bone Chapel which got us to see two other sites in the same location- the museum and the nativity scene collection! These sites were bare bones to me, and I much preferred the Harry Potter-esque Cathedral of Évora, but that’s just my opinion! It’s still worth it to check out the skeletons.

TO THE BONES!

I will say, it’s quite crowded, but so cool to see and definitely worth a trip.

nativity collection

Not my thing, but some ones were neat to see!

The outside was also really beautiful!

Downtown shopping

Touristy tchotchkes and overpriced souvenirs, but can scratch that itch if you’re looking for it. I enjoyed the art and gelato!

wine tasting!

We went wine tasting of Alentejo wines at Rota dos Vinhos do Alentejo Wine Tasting Center (€5 of 4 local wines). It was lovely! The wines were perfectly chilled, and we got a little history of the region for each wine. For €5 a tasting, it was a perfect way to spend the hot afternoon in a cool place.

Cathedral of Évora

WOW! Amazing! Even better than the Bone Chapel in my opinion.

museum

The museum of the Cathedral (Se) is difficult to find, but worth it!

roman temple

If you’ve never seen Corinthian columns before, this is just your luck! They’re right outside the Cathedral. If you’ve seen any others, get ready for just a couple of stone columns. Luckily, they’re free. Walk by and admire their stoneliness. Then, move on to the next thing.