April 25th, Liberty Day (or Freedom Day), is a national holiday here in Portugal (which partially explains the fireworks that woke me up at midnight last night. Perhaps I should have crawled out of bed to see them, my room had a perfect view towards the square, but I was far too tired to manage. Anyway, we spent most of our day touring Évora, known for its ancient Roman temple ruins.
We could not have asked for better weather - stunning blue skies, all day. Our first stop was the former church and convent of the Franciscan order, Igreja de São Francisco. Loads of marble & granite were used, I believe in part because they were local materials. It is so opulent, in part, because the court of King Afonso V used the convent space when they would visit, so the church has images of Mary wearing a crown.
The church is also famous for its Bone Chapel (Capela dos Ossos). The 17th century architecture was meant to encourage reflection on the transitory nature of human life. Indeed, the words over the entrance translate to "We bones that are here, we wait for yours." Just to keep things in perspective. There are about 5,000 bones inside, and they're from the local people, not the Franciscan monks.
We were also able to go up onto the roof of the church and get a nice look at the town. I meant to return later (during our free exploring time) to check out the nativity gallery they have as well, but never did, so I only got a quick peek.
On our way to the Cathedral (Se Catedral de Évora) we were passed by a marching band celebrating the holiday, so that was a fun surprise. The cathedral had tons of wonderful photo opportunities in the cloister - the Gothic structure with Arab influences was quite picturesque. It's the largest medieval cathedral in the entire country as well, which makes sense when you realize the height of the ceiling in the sanctuary - it's several stories high.
Our tour with Nélia ended and we were free until 2:30pm, so I decided to visit nearby Igreja dos Lóios (also known as St. John the Evangelist church). It is covered inside with floor-to-ceiling azulejos!! I gladly paid the 5 euros to get inside. It was restored in 1957-58 by the 10th Duke of Cadaval, so it was in wonderful condition.
After that I just did some more wandering, had lunch (including french fries with oregano flakes, surprisingly tasty), and then met back up with the group to head to our bus. Here are my favorite photos from that wandering period (right place, right time):
We managed to make it to our hotel in Lisbon. Nélia kept trying to prepare us by explaining that the holiday parade/protests happen on the main street (Avenida da Liberdade), which is the same street on which our hotel is located, so the road closures could interfere. Not a worry, the timing worked out perfectly. We exited the bus, took videos of the parade and walked into our hotel.
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