Lisbon to Evora

Saturday, January 31, 2015
Évora, Alentejo, Portugal
Today we left Lisbon and headed south to Portugal's third largest city, Evora. Evora became a Roman outpost in the 2nd Century BC, and was subsequently controlled by the Visogoths, Moors, reconquered by the Portuguese, the Spanish, and again by Portuguese.

But as with most OAT trips it is never a simple journey from point a to point b . There are always opportunities for learning and discovery along the way. As we headed south the landscape changed to rolling hills, with cork forests, orange groves, vinyards, pastures, and meadows. Our first stop was in the village of Arraiolos which is famous for this hand-embroidered wool carpets and tapestries. We visited the local museum where we learned about the history of the rugs and the techniques for making them. Many of the rugs on display dated from the 15th and 16th centuries, although there were others more recent examples of the art. Afterwards, there was a little time for visits to some the the shops where local women were making and selling their rugs. I was surprised by the reasonable prices and found a small rug to add to my collection.

We weren't allowed to linger, because we needed to reach our next stop, the Monte da RavasQuira Wine Estate. Although "monte" is a term to describe a typical Alentejo farming estate, the emphasis is more on "estate" than typical farming" . I'm not sure how long the estate has been in the family, but the vineyard and the winery started in 1997. It has grown into a very large commercial production. Although it had been raining earlier it cleared in time for us to walk through two of the vineyards to the winery. After touring the winery, we had a tasting and then a delicious lunch. After lunch we toured the Estate's carriage collection.

The final stop before reaching Evora was the most unexpected of my trip to Portugal--the Almendres Cromlech. This is the oldest known stone circle in Europe dating from the 5th and 4th milliniums. It consists of 92 standing stones in two circles with different equinoxial directions, and it's latitude allows viewing of the full moon at its zenith. The only other latitude that permits such viewing is the one at Stonehenge.

It was late afternoon by the time that we arrived at our Pousada in Evora, a former monastery dating from the 15th century. The former cloisters are now very guest rooms and although they are small, they are also comfortable. It's location between the remains of a Roman Temple and the Cathedral was very interesting.

Comments

Garr
2015-02-03

The rugs look quite intricate.

maryleabyrd
2015-02-04

They are a type of cross stitch embrodiery. The old ones are wool on linen, but the modern ones are wool on a burlap type material. A small one takes about a month to make.

2025-02-06

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