Advertisement
Published: October 3rd 2014
Edit Blog Post
After running full time for 24 hours in Lisbon, my next stop was to be a lot more relax. The mission was double, to visit the little town of Evora, and to enjoy an exquisite stay in what look like a gorgeous place...well...at least this is the way I saw it from my research on the internet.
I first rent a car into Lisbon for the 130km to Evora. Highways in Portugal are pretty modern, and once you leave the capital, you have the place for yourself. I didn't really realize how low density in population the countryside was once you have driven few miles out of Lisbon. Sadly, not many pictures while riding the 25th April bridge....driving and taking pictures at the same is obviously not a great idea....even if I was ready!
My dig for the night was the Convento de Espinheiro, a former convent, converted in a hotel back in 2005, and a place where the King Joao II used to sleep....obviously way before it was a hotel. Straight on, the place reminded me of other properties that I loved, such as the Sofitel in Cartagena (Colombia), the Taj Lake Palace in
Udaipur (India) or even the Gritti in Venice. A place full of history, turned into a luxurious retreat, away from the crowds where one of the simple pleasure...is simply to do nothing enjoying a drink on a terrace...
But first, Evora. It was still early afternoon....and the hotel had bicycles for the guests to enjoy. The hotel being few kilometers outside of the city, I was ready for a nice sweat by this beautiful day of the end of the Summer. Reminder, this is still Portugal...and it's pretty warm out there.
Evora is a walled and gated city. Well, after coming back from my little hours long ride, I found out that I didn't take a single picture of the outside walls of the city. But walls, there are! The full city is paved, with narrow streets...and even narrower ones...most of them being one way streets only. I decided ahead to let myself experienced the city by simply allowing to get lost. So no map...no plan....just left or right whenever I would feel it. I checked after on a map, seems I didn't miss anything important.
The city is pretty gorgeous!
Nice point, most of it is actually left for his residents...so you don't have the feeling of being in a tourist trap....even if this place is a World Heritage site by Unesco. So I went around and around...just enjoying my time and afternoon.
I came back in time to the Convento to get changed and ready for an evening of fine wines. Alentejo has lately emerged with seriously high quality wines. And guess what, I have no idea about any of their wines. To make things even more interesting, most of the grapes here are indigenous...and they do blend. So while you may enjoy what you have in your glass, it's actually pretty tough to remember what is exactly in your glass...for the simple matter that pronouncing in Portuguese the name of those grapes, is simply impossible for me.
The hotel had a nice wine tasting...but I guess it did only allow more confusion on my side...still, pretty nice wines...and for more than a decent price tag! Time for dinner soon for me....after enjoying the sunset!
Other guests were mainly Americans...and not of my generation. So not really fancying eating in
the restaurant, I settled down for the cloister...for myself. Sadly, while the food was adequate, they won't win a Michelin start anytime tomorrow...but that setting was amazing...and I couldn't finish the evening without a nice cigar.
Next morning, original plan was to wake up early and explore more of Evora....but I guess I got lazy and ended up enjoying a nice morning in my luxury little cradle. Sadly, they couldn't give me the Royal Suite, the one that Joao II was accustomed to, but I guess I got the second best choice in the place, out of close to 80 rooms....with a lot of them in a new building. Not going to complain for 57 euros a night...but have to admit as a disclaimer, 57 euros a night is a pretty amazing deal, but not the official walk-in one! Pfff....would have been even better with the Royal Suite!
Time for me soon to get back to the airport, and fly to Brussels for a 20 hours stay in Belgium before jumping continent again....when I told you it was a small world...
Next entry...not about Belgium...well...some of these pics will be published
in a future blog, but coming only end of this year. I'm actually writing this from a country I'm visiting for the first time...another one...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.579s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 41; qc: 136; dbt: 0.264s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Nice
We'll take a case please