Évora and the beauty of its surroundings

This weekend I went to Alentejo with my parents. To Évora, the city where my mother was born and where she spent all of her early childhood! It's a beautiful city. I love it, love it, love it.

We went on Saturday and had lunch there. My mother doesn't want me to have too many fries, but a man has his needs. Mine are fries!


My mother had the same as me: roasted pork.


My father had roasted rabbit with coriander.



We took a quick stroll in the city. We went to the local market, right across the capela dos ossos, a local church covered with human bones.


My father bought local stuff, like smelly cheese.


And we went to a grocery shop in the market. I was happy, as it was an old style shop. The kind I like!

There was some cod fish for sale. The Portuguese way: dry and salty.





Évora is indeed a great place. Even the roads are ancient...


The city is really amazing, as all the houses are white. With a stripe in some color. Yellow, blue, green... And paint is traditionally not used. Lime is.


We stopped at our place. Or, better, my grandmother's place there. Like, our vacation place.

The neighbor has a cat. We call him Pirata ou Reguila.


I love that last picture of him under an old concrete sink.

And here's our humble place in beautiful Évora.


Please note the swing.

I wanted to go Spain. Which is just a mere hour away from Évora. Especially with my father driving... So we decided to go to Badajoz...

To be honest, there is not much to see there... So we stopped at the supermarket - where many things can be cheaper than in Portugal! - and then we took a few pictures...




Las chicas hablando...




The sun was going down. And with the infinity of the southern skies, the sunset was amazing!



We got back to Évora by night. Still warm.


Whenever we stop by Évora, we always visit my mother's uncle...


...and aunt.


They are very nice. And I love talking to our aunt!


After visiting them, we went for dinner.





My father parked right next to the local theater.





We decided to try a new restaurant. It was pretty good, despite my dish being a little bland...

And I definitely cannot take my parents out...





We all had different things, but I had to take a picture of my mother's choice: migas de espargos. Mashed bread with asparagus.


We slept.

The next day we went on a small trip deeper into Portugal. We went to another amazing place, Monsaraz. I had never been there, but my parents had told me it was beautiful. And they were right!

Monsaraz is an old village, on a hill top. And nowadays we can see the largest artificial lake in Western Europe, the Alqueva reservoir. What a stunning view!








I love the infinity of Alentejo, as we call the area. It's so different from Japan, where there is no horizon because of the mountains...



We went up to the village... And there is no need for words...




The monte alentejano, like a villa in the middle of nowhere, with farmland around it...

















A small reservoir under a house.













Knock, knock...



Check out the cemetery with the best view in the country!












I was in awe!

But we went on with our trip, right next to the waters of the resevoir. The lake formed by the waters in amazing. It's so irregular, with the water showing up hill after hill.
It's so large that it slightly changed the temperature there...



We arrived at Mourão, a town deeper in the infinity of Alentejo.



My parents made a point of taking me to the same restaurant they had taken my dear Yuriko! And we managed to get seated. At the same place they had sat with her!




But even before we got in I got in I was already feeling the chills! We could hear some men singing the traditional cantar alentejano from the street! It's superb and I had never seen it or heard it right there, in front of me!







Isn't it something?!

I had a great lunch there: sopas de cação. A soup with bread and some kind of shark...
One of my favorite dishes from that area... Yummy!



I was in heaven: a nice restaurant, great food and people singing beautiful sounds!

I do wonder how drunk are those men by the end of the day! Because they keep drinking while they sing... They sing voluntarily, as they get together at the restaurant.

Our day trip was not finished yet and we went on towards the dam itself.

We saw some more of those montes alentejanos, lost in the middle of nowhere.


And an old school turned new.




Here's the dam! It took Portugal 40 years to finish it, after delays after delays...




There are even fish in the reservoir. Plenty of them!



We returned to Évora. My father went to a cafe to eat some sea food, but my mother and I decided to walk down the streets of the city. And take pictures of her city.


The Praça do Giraldo is the main square in the city. And it's surrounded by these galleries.






We even walked up the street of my birthday!


Where we can see many shops. Even the chinese shop...



...where one can buy flowers... And read bad Portuguese.


Up that street is the see.



Which was already closed... But I told the door man off because the closing time wasn't showed properly!

No worries about it, though, as Évora has plenty to see. Like the templo de Diana, an old Roman temple!



A water tower. Not Roman.


We also stopped by the City Hall.





And here's the Praça do Giraldo.


And the church where my grandparents got married. Fancy, hey?



We reconvened back at our place, said good-bye to the neighbor, his sister and his cat.



My father drove fast, as usual. While seeing the sun going down behind Lisbon.