Evora, Portugal

I decided to spend a day visiting Evora, an ancient walled city (UNESCO world heritage) in the Alentejo region of Portugal. This is a very flat, farming area.

Apparently, Evora, like the rest of Europe, is very popular amongst Japanese tourists (though I didn’t see any). Besides the usual cathedrals, churches and squares, several places of interest in Evora are worth mentioning.

First, the bone chapel. Evora has a chapel made entirely of bones and skulls inside! There is an inscription inside the chapel that says “we are waiting for your bones”. How creepy!

Evora also has its share of Roman ruins, notably the Temple of Diana and an aqueduct. Perhaps I was most impressed by the buildings that now comprise the University of Evora. One of these buildings in a 16th century Jesuit college that has a beautiful courtyard with azulejo tiles. I can’t believe students get to study in an ambience of history!

Lisbon, Portugal

Portugal’s capital is a charming old city with gorgeous architecture. Along with red roofs, the most ubiquitous feature were the azulejo tiles. Parts of the city reminded me of San Francisco, with its hills and trams. Lisbon is one of those cities that I definitely will have to visit again for a longer period!

I came to Portugal mainly to try the Portuguese egg tart, something that I loved to eat back when I was in Hong Kong. These tarts, as I later learned are called pasteis de nata. However, the original one, with its secret recipe, is called the pasteis de Belem and can only be bought at one store in the Belem district of Lisbon. Not being a connoisseur of these pastries, the only features that I could discern was that the pasteis de Belem was flakier and less rich.

Another activity I partook in was going to a local restaurant (non-touristy) with some CouchSurfers and watching a performance of fado. This form of song is rather melancholic, with either a male or female singer accompanied by a guitar player and a Portuguese-guiter (round base) player. I watched a dozen male and female singers each express himself or herself. The most notable singer was a Japanese female singing in Portuguese. (Apparently, fado is big in Japan.)

Porto, Portugal

I arrived at Portugal’s second city wanting to try its specialty--Port wine. CouchSurfer Fernando kindly took me to a winery where I was given a tour and tried two types of Port, a dry white type and the common sweet red type.

It was also in Porto where I tasted delicious Portuguese food for the first time! I tried many types of fish, including dourada and bacalhau (codfish). Many of these fish are salted and grilled and served with the entire body on a platter, similar to the Chinese way of preparing some types of fish.