Day 12 Oct 8 - Evora / Monsaraz

Crazy traffic in Lisbon this morning! Grid-lock traffic due to a strike at the subway. It was interesting to see the locals politely lined up along the streets waiting for the buses as they tried to make their way to work (one of many differences between the Portuguese and Spanish - the Portuguese are polite).

Once we were able to make our way out of Lisbon, we headed out on a long scenic drive to the small village of Monsaraz. Along the way we passed rolling hills of cork trees and flat prairies dotted with cattle and olive trees before reaching the vast stretches of vineyards.

‎Our first stop of the day was the pottery shop Olaria Patalim in São Pedro do Corval. The entire pottery process is still done by hand (most pottery factories are now mass producing their products). We were able to watch the owner skillfully and effortlessly create hand made pottery using an old-fashioned pottery wheel. Once he has created the pottery, it is dried and then his sisters and mother takeover the creative process and paint every individual piece by hand before it is fired in a modern industrial sized kiln.This artisan can produce 900 of the clay pots you see in the picture per day.

The owner has just recently created a museum within his work studio to illustrate the steps in creating the pottery and how it was done decades ago by his father and grandfather‎. Note the characters are the potter's family members and he actually sculpted the figures.

‎The village of Monsaraz is one of the oldest Portuguese settlements of the southern Portugal, and is located close by the Guadiana River and ‎west of the Alqueva Dam. It was a very quiet visit as the village only has 45 full time residents...quite the change from the touristy places like Obidos! Large tour buses rarely come to Monsaraz so there were only a few tourists in the town. We met some very funny gentlemen that own the local gourmet shop and tried a local egg yolk candy called Rebuçados de ovo (apparently made by the nuns in the convent).‎ 

Local coffee shop/gourmet store

Along the quiet streets

The Castle keep of Monsaraz, centre of tourism in the parish 

Parochial church of Nossa Senhora da Lagoa

View of the Guadiana River from the Castle

We continued our tour of the Evora region with a picnic lunch at the Ervideira Winery. This winery is owned and operated by the Leal da Costa family, which can be traced back to the Count of Ervideira, they are a fourth generation winery which began producing wine in 1880. We were able to take a tour of their winery and enjoy an educational wine tasting. The harvest just finished yesterday, so as with tradition, the workers joined the owner in a large feast to celebrate a successful harvest. We went to a separate area in an air-conditioned building located within the vineyard to enjoy a lunch of local bread, cheeses, jams, sausages and of course their estate wine. 

Our last stop today was the city of Évora. We visited the Church of St. Francis built by King John II in 1480.

Our next visit was..well we'll say creepy! We visited the Chapel of Bones (Capela dos Ossos). It is a small interior chapel located next to the entrance of the Church of St. Francis‎. The Chapel gets its name because the interior walls are covered and decorated with human skulls and bones. The words above the entrance translates to WE BONES HERE, FOR YOURS AWAIT..‎..we say again CREEPY.

We quickly left and wandered the narrow streets browsing at a store filled with cork products...and not just trivets..they had hats, shoes, Ugg style boots, briefcases, purses and a dress - all made of cork.

Next we visited the Cathedral of Évora. It is one of the oldest and most important monuments in the city, situated on the highest spot of the city. 

Finally we visited the Roman Temple of Évora. The temple is believed to have been constructed around the first century A.D.