Welcome to Evora! We are now in the southern section of Portugal and we finally outran
the rain so we're pretty excited about that. The ruins that are here look really interesting and
we are hoping to take a really cool factory tour tomorrow that of course we'll share with
you. If you're just tuning in, I want you to know my voice does not normally sound this husky.
I managed to pick up a cold while in Portugal. It is not COVID. We did get tested, both of us, just to be
sure, and we think that this is the perfect place to relax and maybe rejuvenate a little bit while
we are both a little bit under the weather. The sun is shining; let's go take a look at the city.
If you've been watching our channel for any length of time, you probably
know that we're gonna say something like - a lot of
the charm of this place is just to walk around and get lost in the various lanes.
This town's a great example of that, and it's just full of a maze of different alleys and lanes you
can walk down and get lost, find a Pastel da Nata place you like, or a cafe. There's a lot to do.
Here in Evora, we're really excited to see all of the different eras of the city, and who has
controlled it and how they've contributed to the city. You can see, just outside the city there's
ancient pre-roman artifacts that you can go take a look at. There's also roman ruins. Behind me
you can see there's a temple. There's also remnants of an aqueduct and a roman wall that's scattered
in bits and pieces through the neighborhood behind me. We really get a kick out of that.
It's interesting to see how the city incorporates these different cultures into the city's landscape
over time. In addition to the Roman aspects there's also Moorish architecture in the city.
Moors controlled this city for a couple hundred years and there's bits and pieces
of the Moorish architecture all over the place. I'm no architecture expert but I suspect some of this
church here has some moorish stuff going on with it. This tower here on the left sure looks like
it might have been a minaret at some point; that's not uncommon in this town, where when the
christians took over again the new churches were built on top of the mosques. The street that we're
walking down here has been a shopping street for a couple millennia going way back to Roman times and
that's pretty much what it does today too. It's still a shopping street 2000 years later. One of
the things that you'll find a lot - at least in this town in this region - is a lot of cork products.
I don't know what significant percentage of cork that's produced in the world comes from Portugal,
but it's a lot, and a lot of it comes from this region. You'll see
everything from hats and umbrellas to little trinkets and things. Lots of fun stuff.
By the way, we realized that I got sick after we stopped
eating Pastel da Nata, so we should go fix that!
Well, that was tastier than a vitamin. Should be healthy tomorrow!
Here they actually have a different specialty. It's called Queijadas de Evora.
Tried one at breakfast; it was pretty good. Similar idea, but honestly I still like the Pastel da Nata.
We're about to go into one of Evora's top sites,
also referred to as the chapel of bones, which sounds a little bit creepy!
Halloween was just a few days ago while we're here, so let's go see what it is.
The inscription above the entrance states "We bones that are here, for yours we wait."
The chapel contains bones from around 5,000 bodies carefully decorating its walls. In the
early 17th century, there were an incredible 42 monastic cemeteries in Evora, and together they
took up too much space. To free up the space, monks dug up the bones and created this chapel.
They wanted to maintain respect for the dead, but also remind the living that material things
are only temporary - a message that stands the test of time.
A poem is written on the chapel... Where are you going in such a hurry traveler? Stop; do not
proceed any further. You have no greater concern than this one - that on which you focus your sight.
Recall how many have passed from this world. Reflect on your similar end. There is good
reason to reflect; if only all did the same. Ponder, you so influenced by fate, among the
many concerns of the world, so little do you reflect on death. If by chance, you glance at
this place, stop for the sake of your journey. The more you pause, the more you will progress.
If you come to the chapel of bones, don't miss the nativity scenes that are on the top floor.
I love all the nativity scenes! It's so much fun to see Jesus represented
in every skin tone, like *every* skin tone. A variety of cultures - this is such a cool display.
There's a viewpoint at the top of the church that overlooks the city, which is really cool.
Tickets to the chapel include the nativity collection upstairs,
and also the very impressive 15th century gothic Church of San Francisco located just next door.