Thursday 7th April 2011

Another sunny day but not quite as hot as yesterday and with a nice refreshing breeze. We walked into Evora and followed the medieval route on the map we had obtained from the tourist info yesterday. This took us from the main square (where they burnt people during the inquisition!) and around the numerous small streets. Evora has been inhabited since the Neolithic period but the Romans transformed it into an Imperial town. In 715AD the Arabs conquered the city and held it until 1165 when it was taken back. Since then it has been the chosen location for the Royal court, an important religious city with over thirty churches and in 1515 the church founded a college which soon became a university when it received Rome’s approval. It was closed in 1759 and only reopened in 1973, we had the chance to walk around the entrance a little which was great, the original buildings are still used with lecturers being given in them. The students all seemed very happy and we weren’t surprised given the surroundings! We saw many churches, as well as the remains of the aqueduct which brought in water from the 16^th century and still has several miles still standing. At the top of the hill is a wonderful looking cathedral and the remains of a Roman temple, which is raised up and would have had incredible views when it was built. The route brought us back to the main square where we stopped for a drink and a much needed rest. We’d stopped for lunch in one of the small squares and again to eat some wonderful cakes we’d seen in a shop and couldn’t resist, but with the heat we still needed to rest for a while!

By the time we had walked back to the camp we’d completed about 5 miles but it seemed many more! We’d enjoyed Evora and wouldn’t mind returning at a later date, it’s a nice place to wander around, not too big so you can’t really get lost!