Tom`s travels: Evora, Sesimbra (15-18/06/2015)

I left Coimbra with my friend Flaviano at around 9:30 with the Redexpressos bus and arrived in Evora at 13:45. First thing we did was head to the Jardim Publico, or public park, not too far from the bus station, to have lunch with the sandwiches we made at home. The park was pretty nice and there were peacocks going around trying to get the few crumbs they could find. We walked through the park and reached the Palacio de Dom Manuel, or Royal Palace, built first as a convent in the 13th century and then transformed into a royal residence in the 14th century. The Palace was unfortunately closed so we then headed south right outside town to see the Igreja de São Bras which had a strange but interesting looking architecture. We then walked back into the city and headed for the next stop which was the Igreja de São Francisco, which was closed for restoration but the Capela dos Ossos, or Chapel of Bones, was still open. The entrance was 1,50€ for students plus a 1€ fee for taking pictures, which I could have saved myself from paying since there were so many people taking pictures, and they probably wouldn't have noticed me. The chapel was the resting ground of many monks and the walls, ceiling and columns were all covered in skulls and bones, very interesting but maybe too touristy. We then headed towards the Igreja da Graça, that wasn't far away, pasing through the pretty winding streets of the city. The church itself though was quite small and not much decorated inside. Next was the Largo das Portas da Moura, a small but pretty square with a lovely renaissance fountain at its center. After that we headed for the Cathedral which sits in the middle of the town. It is a very nice example of romanesque-gothic, and also one of the prettiest cathedrals in Portugal, first built in the 13th century and then enlarged in the 14th. The entrance fee for students was 3€ and included the visit to the church, the cloister and the tower/terrace. We went up to the terrace first, which had a wonderful view over the city and the surrounding countryside. After taking a few pics we met a group of old people that came from Italy and specifically close to where we are from: Vittorio Veneto. After a brief conversation with them, we went back down and into the cloister and then inside the church itself. Exiting the church we headed to the Largo Conde de Vila Flor, which had the beautiful Roman Temple at its center. The temple dedicated to Diana, was built in the 1st century A.D. The temple still survives quite intact because during the medieval times it was used as a tower first and then butcher shop. We then sat down and drank an ice-tea at the café on the square, and after that walked down towards the University which is housed in the Colegio Espirito Santo. Once a monastery, it still keeps a nice looking main closter at its center. Walking along the northern walls, we re-entered the city center; we reached the main square Praça do Giraldo, a very beautiful setting with a church at its western end and an interesting fountain at its center. What really caught my eye though were the porticoes or galleries all along the sides of the streets and square, usually very common in Italy, but which I had never seen in Portugal before. We then headed on to find a hostel, and not far from the main square we came across Old Evora. The owner, a Brazilian, was very friendly and told us we could pay the 12€ later. So we decided to finish visiting the city by seeing the southern walls and the aqueduct which cut trough half of the city. After the walk we stopped at a grocery store we we bought pasta and a sauce to cook back at the hostel. So we had dinner while an old couple from Australia talked with us for a while and later we met a weird 30 year old woman from Spain at the hostel that was just bragging how she enjoyed the Sant Antonio party in Lisbon, while Evora looked too desolate for her and wasn't so nice and quite average, though I didn't really agree with her. We then headed out for a walk and a drink, however it was quite windy and chilly, so after the drink we headed back to the hostel to sleep. To then catch the 9:07 train we woke up and had a quick breakfast; with 9,90€ we reached Lisbon at around 10:30 and then headed for the Praça de Espanha where we took the 11:15 bus towards the beach town of Sesimbra. After about 50 minutes of bus ride, we reached this beach resort and decided to shop at Mini Preço for lunch. We had a few sandwiches at the beach right in front of the town center and bought some fruit to bring to the beach we were heading to. We started walking west along the coast, walked past the Marina and reached the camping site Forte do Cavalo: they did not have any tents to rent and the price was about 5€ each just for staying inside and on a rough ground which looked very uncomfortable. So we decided not to stay and headed on towards the beach, the way was not easy: we had to walk up a steep hill and then down a narrow path through bushes and rocks, but eventually paradise was in sight. From up the hill the water looked so beautiful and transparent, and once it down it looked even better. We set ourselves down next to a group of half naked girls, and apart from a small family a couple of old people and a few youngsters there was no one else. It was the most beautiful beach I had ever seen in Portugal. We had a few swims and I also jumped off some tall rocks, then after nearly everyone left we took several funny pics and did some workouts on the sand. Since it was a bit windy there, we decided not to sleep on the beach but instead headed back to the city center. We then decided to have a nice dinner since we were't paying for sleep. So we chose a well reviewed restaurant called O Rodinhas, where I ordered a bitoque, a steak with eggs and fries, very portuguese, while Flaviano got fried cuttlefish. The bitoque was quite average but I guess I made a wrong choice since the cuttlefish tasted good as Sesimbra lies on the sea. After dinner it was time to find a place to sleep; we searched along the beach and found a small shack which probably served as a beach bar during the day, so we set up the sleeping bags and not long after fell asleep. We woke up early the next day, at 7:30 and went on to find a bar to have breakfast. After finding a nice and one of the only already open pastelaria, we had a plentiful breakfast and an italian woman, hearing us speak, asked if we knew where the Praia da Ribeira do Cavalo was. I told her the way and that it quite hard and far to reach. After breakfast we headed for the city beach and stayed there until lunch time, the sun was strong, the water was clear and refreshing and sometimes a guy selling Krapfen would pass by yelling "Olha a booola". For lunch we grabbed some fruit from Mini Preço, but first we ate a cheap but nice tasting hamburger at a bar right off the beach. Then back on the sand until late afternoon when we had a walk along the beach and decided to take a shower before dinner, however it wasn't permitted to use soap and shampoo but we did either way with a guys telling on us, while we faked we couldn't understand portuguese. After a short workout we decided to look for another nice place to eat, we looked on the internet but weren't so sure. Eventually we decided for Casa Mateus, it was quite fancy inside and we were definitely under-dressed with shorts and t-shirt; despite that we ordered a very nice fish each and a fish soup as an appetizer, with a really good white sangria as a drink. We ended up paying about 25€ each, with just the sangria costing 18€ total, but all was good and tasty so we were satisfied. We went back to the place we had stayed at the night before, and found they had covered the sand floor with marble slabs which were too hard and uncomfortable so we removed them, though they were very heavy, and then laid our sleeping bags on the ground. We then brushed our teeth at the beach shower before going to sleep. Waking up the next morning quite late: between 8 and 8:30, we headed back to the pastelaria of the day before where we had another plentiful breakfast. We then headed back to the beach and sun bathed until lunch when we ate a few sandwiches from the supermarket. Then after a little more beach time and one last swim, we left from Lisbon at around 3 and once there we got the bus back to Coimbra at 4 which eventually got us home at 6. Definitely one of the best trips so far.