Evora's Cathedral
by johnsakura
Évora is so great everytime of the year. It has so different moods. When it rains, buildings due to it's age and construction fabrics intend to soak on rain water and look very heavy. So does this cathedral that look so different depending of the time of the year. the Cathedral is wonderful. try to visit the cloister's terrace. In days when the sun shines I usualy go to sell some framed pictures from Evora to the cathedral entrance. People are quite nice in terms of accepting the fact that I'm selling on the street cos in Portugal the majority of people doesn't see that kind of things with nice eyes. The funny thing about this all story is that the first person that bought me pictures was in fact the man responsible of the Catedral (Cónogo), belongs to the Cabido of The Sé. He bought me three pictures hehehe, and he advised me to have some pictures not so artistic intentioned but more turistic type if I do in fact want to sell more. I intend to change the way buildings and views normally look, like new perspectives and views people are not used to see. Many people stare for a while until they really get it mentally.
You can see some black birds on the picture, those birds in portuguese are called "gralhas" (don't know in english sorry). A "gralha"in portuguese means something that is never quiet.
Roman Temple
by johnsakura
Templo de Diana.
wonderful place to visit. pure history being seen by your eyes. Its amazing how a thing build so long ago is still up in such a place.
People usually go up the temple even with a sign saying NO CLIMBING PLEASE! I for many times told people to respect the archeologic site and not to ruin it by climb it and taking pieces of rocks back home, and they just tell me oh sorry but i don't understand portuguese so I couldn't read the sign: conclusiion: the sign is written in four different languages... hehehe.
Once a group of portuguese tourists from the North were on top of the temple and i just went to the police that was just beside it and said: come one tell them to go away, its your duty has a police office... he just answered me: "come on its too much sun for me to be walking arroud, let me chill for a while" :o) the backgroud of this temple:
It is what remains of the forum of the city of Évora and was devoted to the imperial cult and not, unlike what is popularly believed, dedicated to the goddess Diana.
The temple, built in marble and granite, is surrounded by Corithian columns rising upon a podium which remains almost complete. The columns of the façade have disappeared but the six columns on the back remain, as well as a few on the sides.
It knew several changes over the centuries; namely in the 5th century, with the Barbarian invasions, and in the 14th century when it was used as a armoury for the city´s castle.
During the second half of the 19th century, the buildings attached to it were demolished and it was almost completely restored, allowing the temple to recover its original aspect.
During the 20th century, new escavations found remains of a portico and of the artificial lake that surrounded it.
Igreja de Sao Francisco 1
by johnsakura
The most notable feature on the façade is the porch with its arches built in different styles, both pointed and horseshoe, a typical example of the “marriage” between the Gothic and Moorish styles that is typically found in so many monuments in this region of Portugal.
The church has the peculiarity of consisting of one single nave ribbed vaulting, the largest such space to be found in Portuguese Gothic churches.
At the sides are twelve open chapels built between the buttresses of the walls, all of them lined with baroque wood carvings.
The chancel, built at the beginning of the sixteenth century, still has important Renaissance features, in the galleries for example, although the altarpiece was made at a later date. In the chapel of the Order of Terceira, situated in one of the arms of the transept, it is interesting to observe the harmonious blending together of stone, carved wood and azulejos. As well as the cloister and the chapel totally lined with human bones, the hermitage of São Joãozinho represents a nucleus of different styles, with its Renaissance portal, its panels of seventeenth-century azulejos and its baroque statues from the end of the eighteenth century.
Rua dos Mercadores
by johnsakura
This street belongs to the area of the old jewish quarter in Évora near the main square. Goes all the wa up from the Hotel of Cartuxa to the Main square. If you're comming for the first time to town and by car you should try to go up this street in the first place. You'll love the experience of entering the wonderful square of Giraldo.
Pigeons
by micas_pt
Évora’s main squares and also tiny side streets are full of pigeons. It is always fun to observe little children feeding them or running after them trying, in vain, to grab them. If you look up, you will notice that there are a lot of pigeons hiding in the lamps, windows and roofs. Even the beautiful round window of the Cathedral was covered in pigeons when I visited it.
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Souvenir shops - Évora
Cathedral stairs
Maria
San Francisco church sign
