Évora
For a lovely tranquil stroll, head to the light-dappled public gardens (with a small outdoor cafe) south of the Igreja de São Francisco. Inside the walls of the 15th-century Palácio de Dom Manuel is the Galeria das Damas, an indecisive hybrid of Gothic, Manueline, neo-Moorish and Renaissance styles. It’s open when there are temporary art exhibitions.
From the town walls you can see, a few blocks to the southeast, the crenellated, pointy-topped Arabian Gothic profile of the Ermida de São Brás.
0.38 MILES
Once part of the Roman Forum, the remains of this temple, dating from the 2nd or early 3rd century AD, are a heady slice of drama right in town. It's…
0.12 MILES
One of Évora’s most popular sights is also one of its most chilling. The walls and columns of this mesmerising memento mori (reminder of death) are lined…
8.28 MILES
Set within a beautiful landscape of olive and cork trees stands this huge, spectacular oval of standing stones, 15km west of Évora. It is the Iberian…
6.05 MILES
The Great Dolmen of Zambujeiro, 13km southwest of Évora, is Europe’s largest dolmen. Under a huge sheet-metal protective shelter in a field of wildflowers…
0.32 MILES
Guarded by a pair of rose granite towers, Évora’s fortress-like medieval cathedral has fabulous cloisters and a museum jam-packed with ecclesiastical…
12.52 MILES
Around 27km west of Èvora, the Escoural Caves contain several cave paintings and rock carvings that date back more than 13,000 years. One-hour guided…
0.41 MILES
The former Convento dos Lóios, to the right of Igreja de São João, has elegant Gothic cloisters topped by a Renaissance gallery. A national monument, the…
25.59 MILES
At the top of the upper town is the stark, glowing-white, fortress-like former royal palace, now the Pousada de Rainha Santa Isabel. Dom Dinis built the…
0.05 MILES
Inside the walls of the 16th-century Palácio de Dom Manuel is the Galeria das Damas, an indecisive hybrid of Gothic, Manueline, neo-Moorish and…
0.12 MILES
Évora’s best-known church is a tall and huge Manueline-Gothic structure, completed around 1510 and dedicated to St Francis. Legend has it that the…
0.12 MILES
One of Évora’s most popular sights is also one of its most chilling. The walls and columns of this mesmerising memento mori (reminder of death) are lined…
4. Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graça
0.16 MILES
Down an alley off Rua da República is the curious baroque facade of this church, topped by four ungainly stone giants – as if they’ve strayed from a…
0.18 MILES
The crenellated, pointy-topped Arabian Gothic Ermida de São Brás dates from about 1480. It’s possibly an early project of Diogo de Boitaca, considered the…
0.23 MILES
The city’s main square has seen some potent moments in Portuguese history, including the 1483 execution of Fernando, Duke of Bragança; the public burning…
0.25 MILES
The extraordinary knotted Manueline stone doorway of the Igreja do Carmo lies south of Largo da Porta de Moura.
0.29 MILES
Among several elegant mansions around the Largo da Porta de Moura square (and contemporary with the strange-looking, globular 16th-century Renaissance…