Things to do in Central Portugal
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Portugal dos Pequenitos
Portugal dos Pequenitos, the brainchild of local collector Bissaya Barreto, is an impossibly cute theme park where kids clamber over, into and through doll’s-house versions of Portugal’s most famous monuments, while parents clutch cameras at the ready. There’s an extra charge to visit the marginally interesting mini-museums of marine life, clothing and furniture. You can also hop aboard one of the frequent river trips with Basófias.
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Igreja de Santa Cruz
From the trendy shops out on Praça 8 de Maio, this church plunges you back to Manueline and Renaissance times. Step through the Renaissance porch and flamboyant 18th-century arch to discover some of the Coimbra School's finest work, including an ornate pulpit and the elaborate tombs (probably carved by Nicolas Chanterène) of Portugal's first kings, Afonso Henriques and Sancho I. The most striking Manueline work is in the restrained 16th-century cloister.
Behind the church is the Jardim da Manga(once part of the cloister) and its curious fountain: a lemon-yellow, four-buttressed affair.
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Termas Romanas
Inside the entrance hall of the câmara municipal on Praça de Sertório are more Roman vestiges, discovered only in 1987. These impressive Roman baths, which include a laconicum (heated room for steam baths) with a superbly preserved 9m-diameter circular pool, would have been the largest public building in Roman Évora. The complex also includes an open-air swimming pool, discovered in 1994.
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Zé Carioca
Set in a handsome old town house, this Brazilian eatery is both relaxed and elegant. The grilled meats, moqueca de camarão (shrimp stewed with coconut milk, tomatoes and coriander) and caipirinhas are all superb. The weekday lunch buffet (€16.50 per kilogram) is a good deal, as is the feijoada buffet on weekend afternoons (€9 for all you can eat).
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Church
Évora’s best-known church is a tall and huge Manueline-Gothic structure, completed around 1510 and dedicated to St Francis. Exuberant nautical motifs celebrating the Age of Discoveries deck the walls and reflect the confident, booming mood of the time. It’s all topped by a cross of Christ’s order and dome. Legend has it that the Portuguese navigator Gil Vicente is buried here.
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Gardens
Legend says Dona Inês de Castro met her grisly end in the gardens of this private estate. It’s now a deluxe hotel, although anyone can take a turn about the gardens and track down the Fonte dos Amores (Lovers’ Fountain), which marks the spot where the king’s unwitting mistress was struck down. Also note the sequoia tree planted by English hero the Duke of Wellington.
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Museu Luso-Hebraico Abraham Zacuto
On a charming cobbled lane in the old town, you’ll find the country’s best-preserved medieval synagogue. Built between 1430 and 1460, it was used for only a few years before Dom Manuel’s convert-or-leave edict of 1496 forced most Jews to do the latter. The synagogue subsequently served as a prison, chapel, hayloft and warehouse until it was classified as a national monument in 1921.
Mostly thanks to the efforts of Luís Vasco (who comes from one of two Jewish families left in Tomar and is often present), the small, plain building has been remodelled to look something like it would have in the 15th century. It’s named after the Jewish mathematician and royal…
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Jardim Botânico
A serene place to catch your breath, the lovely botanical garden sits in the shadow of the 16th-century Aqueduto de São Sebastião. Founded by the Marquês de Pombal, the gardens combine formal flowerbeds, meandering paths and elegant fountains. The green-fingered can also visit the lush greenhouses and the adjacent Museu Botânico.
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Carristur
Carristur runs hour-long hop-on, hop-off bus tours of Coimbra with recorded multilingual commentary. The double-decker open-top buses originate near the turismo at Largo da Portagem. The bus ticket (available at the turismo and some local hotels, as well as at the offices of Coimbra’s local transport company, SMTUC) entitles you to a Basófias boat tour and free or discounted admission to several other city attractions.
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Museu dos Fósforos
This museum, reached via the lovely courtyard of the Convento de São Francisco, contains Europe’s largest collection of matchboxes. Amassed by local ‘phillumenist’ Aquiles da Mota Lima, the 40,000-plus matchboxes from countries around the world depict everything from bullfighters to bathing beauties, dinosaurs and French cuisine.
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Igreja de Santa Maria
The town’s elegant main church, near the northern end of Rua Direita, stands on the foundations of a Visigothic temple later converted into a mosque. Begun in the 12th century but restored several times since, it dates mostly from the Renaissance. It had its 15 minutes of fame in 1444 when 10-year-old Afonso V married his eight-year-old cousin Isabel here.
Inside is a wonderful painted ceiling and walls done up in beautiful blue-and-white 17th-century azulejos (hand-painted tiles). Paintings by the renowned 17th-century painter Josefa de Óbidos are to the right of the altar. There’s a fine 16th- century Renaissance tomb on the left, probably carved by the French sculptor…
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Rua 5 de Outubro
Rua 5 de Outubro has rows of artesanatos (handicrafts shops) selling pottery, knick-knacks and cork products of every kind - postcards, wine bottles, hats, shoes, even umbrellas made of cork. The shady side of the mercado municipal is a good spot for finding cheaper pottery. There are more upmarket shops along Rua Cândido dos Reis, northwest of the centre.
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Feitoconceito
Entered through the Tabacaria Pavão downstairs, this hip little hideaway near Praça da República woos a student-heavy crowd with regular DJ sets, plus ridiculously low prices on caipirinhas, mojitos, gin and tonics, vodka and beer. Hang out at the bar, or decamp to one of the high-ceilinged back rooms, all decorated with eye-catching, one-of-a-kind wallpaper. The vintage barbershop and design store next door are equally fun.
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Botequim da Mouraria
Local gastronomes believe this is Évora's culinary shrine. Poke around the old Moorish quarter to find this cosy spot serving some of Évora's finest food and wine (the owner currently stocks more than 150 wines from the Alentejo alone). There are no reservations, just 12 stools at a counter. Rumour is that it's moving to larger premises – a pity, in our opinion – but will be worth seeking out.
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Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graça
Down an alley off Rua da República is the curious baroque facade of the Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graça , topped by four ungainly stone giants – as if they’ve strayed from a mythological tale and landed up on a religious building. An early example of the Renaissance style in Portugal is found in the cloister of the 17th-century monastery next door.
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Convento dos Lóios
The former Convento dos Lóios, to the right of the Church of St John the Evangelist, has elegant Gothic cloisters topped by a Renaissance gallery. A national monument, the convent was converted into a top-end pousada (upmarket inn) in 1965. If you want to wander around, wear your wealthy-guest expression - or have dinner at its upmarket restaurant.
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Town Walls
About one-fifth of Évora’s residents live within the town’s old walls, some of which are built on top of 1st-century Roman fortifications. Over 3km of 14th-century walls enclose the northern part of the old town, while the bulwarks along the southern side, such as those running through the jardim público (public gardens), date from the 17th century.
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Convento de Santa Clara-a-Velha
In 2009, after two decades of steady renovation work, this Gothic convent was reopened to the public after finally being cleared of the river ooze that had drowned it since the 17th century. Founded in 1330 by the saintly Dona Isabel, Dom Dinis’ wife, it served as her final resting place until flooding and mud forced her to move uphill to Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova. The new museum adjacent to the convent displays archaeological finds from the excavation, and shows two films, one about the nuns who lived here, the other documenting the renovation work itself.
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Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova
Begun on higher ground in the 17th century to replace its flooded twin, this convent is devoted almost entirely to the saintly Isabel’s memory. Aisle panels tell her life story, while her solid-silver casket is enshrined above the altar. Even her clothes hang in the sacristy. Her statue is the focus of the Festa da Rainha Santa.
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Universidade de Évora
Just outside the walls to the northeast is the university’s main building (Colégio do Espírito Santo), a descendent (reopened in 1973) of the original Jesuit institution founded in 1559 (which closed when the Jesuits got shooed out by Marquês de Pombal in 1759). Inside are arched, Italian Renaissance-style cloisters, the Mannerist-style Templo do Espírito Santo and beautiful azulejos (hand-painted tiles).
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Church of St John the Evangelist
The small, fabulous Church of St John the Evangelist, which faces the Templo Romano, was founded in 1485 by one Rodrigo Afonso de Melo, count of Olivença and the first governor of Portuguese Tangier, to serve as his family’s pantheon. It’s still privately owned, by the Duques de Cadaval, and notably well kept.
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Casa dos Bonecos
Actors from the grand municipal Teatro Garcia de Resende studied for several years with the only surviving master of a traditional rural puppetry style called bonecos de Santo Aleixo (Santo Aleixo puppets). They occasionally perform this, other styles, and hand-puppet shows for children at this little theatre off Largo de Machede Velho. Ask at the tourist office for their schedule.
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Sé Cathedral
Évora’s cathedral looks like a fortress, with two stout granite towers. It was begun around 1186, during the reign of Sancho I, Afonso Henriques’ son – there was probably a mosque here before. It was completed about 60 years later. The flags of Vasco da Gama’s ships were blessed here in 1497.
You enter the cathedral through a portal flanked by 14th-century stone apostles, flanked in turn by asymmetrical towers and crowned by 16th-century roofs. Inside, the Gothic influence takes over. The chancel, remodelled when Évora became the seat of an archdiocese, represents the only significant stylistic change since the cathedral was completed. Golden light filters…
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Tasquinha d’Oliveira
Tasquinha d’Oliveira This delightful, intimate restaurant (14 places) has tables decked out with crisp white tablecloths and is decorated with ceramic plates. The menu features a small selection of well-prepared Alentejan cuisine. Judging by the framed write-ups on the wall, this restaurant has already been noticed.
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Museu da Cidade Edifício Chiado
This sunlit confection of rippling, coiling iron opened in 1910 as Coimbra’s largest commercial emporium. It now houses a gallery with a permanent collection of paintings, sculpture, ceramics, furniture and splendid silverware donated by local collector José Carlos Telo de Morais, plus temporary exhibitions.
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