portugal: evora, beja, elvas

my transit between towns/areas of portugal took the better part of the morning this time...a train from porto to lisbon, a metro ride from the train station to the bus station, then a bus to evora...
after arriving in evora, i discovered a mixup between the listed address of my hostel, and the address of where i was actually going to stay...i basically checked in at the first location, then the manager walked with me to where i was going to sleep...it meant a lot of walking with my pack, which wasn't so much fun since i wasn't mentally prepared to do so...(not that i carry so much stuff, it was just awkward, and i was tired)...

walking from the bus station into the town center involved walking through the old town walls...evora is an old walled city, another UNESCO town...i think it was originally founded by the celts, (who called it ebora,) and was later ruled by the romans and moors...it is now home to more than 50,000 people...the portuguese and spanish fought here as well...
i dropped my stuff, then started exploring...evora is a small town in eastern portugal, not far from the spanish border...i walked past the ruins of a roman temple, which is now just a bunch of columns in the middle of a square...
i was able to climb up the tower of one church, giving me a lovely view over the area...the church itself is baroque, meaning (to me at least) a very 'busy' interior...
at this point i realized i was starving, and found a cafe at which i had a local specialty...i've forgotten the name of my food, but i remember thinking it was a portuguese version of what americans would call stuffing...and meat...(of course...most meals in portugal seem to involve meat)...I WANT VEGETABLES! how does anyone in this country stay healthy with such a regularly unhealthy diet? how do vegetarians stay healthy here?

my next sight was called the bones chapel...it's small, connected to a full church...there is an entry fee, it's basically a room whose walls are entirely covered in bones...skulls and arm/leg bones...there is 'art' in the arrangement, but it's also creepy in a fascinating way...
i was able to find a supermarket to pick up vegetables and other snacks...
i spent time that night chatting with a kiwi and a scot who were also staying in my hostel...i love the variety of accents:)...my main complaint about the hostel was that it did not have enough plugs...only one plug in my room with four beds!

the next morning i went with the kiwi to the bus station, we had decided to do a day trip...we had perfect timing, and hopped straight onto a bus bound for beja...(alliteration anyone?)...beja is another old town with a history of varied rulers...celts, christians, moors, visigoths, etc...
upon arrival we immediately found a cafe for lunch...another typical portuguese meal: meat and carbs...we had meat, rice, and fries...not bad, not at all noteworthy either...
it took us a while to find the main sight in beja, as we had to wind through the town centre...it's made up of small streets, you never know where you'll go around a corner and end up facing a completely different direction from what you intended...

the castle/tower we wanted to visit seemed open for visits, and we couldn't find a ticket office of any kind...oh well...we enjoyed climbing up what we could, trying to find interesting angles for photos...it's really small, we only spent 30 minutes visiting...
we also visited a church with manueline decoration...the ceiling was incredible...it was small, but we both loved it...i felt as though we stumbled in at the right time, it didn't seem as though it is always open...its technically a museum, not a church, but doesn't feel that way...
on the way back to the bus station we kept searching for ice cream...all sorts of cafes had signs indicating they had it, but we couldn't find it...argh...we arrived back in evora at dusk, and ended up getting lost on the way back to the hostel...ooops...

the next morning we were up early, and again walked to the bus station...this time we took a bus to elvas, another small town in the area...another old, walled city, another UNESCO town...elvas almost allows one to see into spain, which is only 15km away...it's a frontier town...
arrival in elvas meant staring out the window as the bus passed by a large, three level, ancient roman aqueduct...elvas itself is surrounded by not one but two walls with a moat (well, it used to be a moat, there is no longer any water) in between the two walls...you can get up onto the top of the wall in various places, the views over the area are great...especially since the town is built on a hill...

we walked around in circles for a while, enjoying the views, and peaceful atmosphere...
unlike the day before, our lunch in elvas was AMAZING...we stopped into a random local cafe, and ordered the daily special...not only was it only 6euro, it seemed to be unlimited servings of meat, veggies, and rice...YUM!!! i'm not likely to go back to elvas (i've now seen the whole town, there is no reason to go back) but if i do, i will find that cafe again...
there are a number of churches in the town, though most of them seemed closed...we ended up going to the information office to get help to see the churches...

a lady from the information office walked with us to two churches which were locked, she opened them for us, which we loved...one was a mosque that had previously been a church...or was it the other way around? i don't remember now...after seeing those churches she also told us where to find other open churches in the town...
on the way back to the bus station, we visited the military museum, which i really enjoyed...more views over the area, walking on the city walls, a couple memorials, etc...my travel buddy talked to a local guard for a while as i wandered...i think we were the only visitors at the time, and the guard wanted to practice his english...

at the bus station my travel buddy and i parted ways...he went on to cross the border into spain, i went back to evora for one last night...that night i had three other ladies in my room...a french girl, an italian girl, and a polish girl...