Evora & Tomar, Portugal

What to See & Do in Tomar & Evora, Portugal

Evora and Tomar are two of the best cities in Portugal to visit. They are even on our top 10 list of best cities to visit in Portugal.

Tomar, Portugal

Tomar is the town of the Knights Templar who bankrolled much of the discoveries for Portugal as well as many other endeavors throughout Europe in the middle ages. The city celebrates this fact by liberal use of Knights Templar materials in their tourism and city décor. The main site to see in the town is the “Convento do Cristo.” This is the Knights Templar’s monastery/fortress. It was built in the 1100’s and was used by the order through the 16^th century. The inside is graced with beautiful cloisters and amazing Manueline style ornamenty. The most amazing part of the complex is the 16 sided chapel (Charola) you find inside. It is said it was build this way in order to allow the knights to take mass on horseback. Regardless of why, the inside is amazing. It is (in Mark’s opinion) one of the coolest Christian chapels in the world. There are two videos of it below.

View of the Chapel in the Convento do Cristo video 1

Other things to see in the city are the Praca Republica which has the Church of John the Baptist (Igreja Sao Joao Baptista). This square and the city play host to the Festa dos Tabuleiros every four years where virgin girls (or so the parents like to hope) walk around town carrying trays on their head, it sounds silly but when you see how many trays they carry you will not be laughing. They are helped by local boys (not forced to fib about their possible sexual activities) who keep them from falling over. It is quite a spectacle and if you are lucky enough to be in Portugal when it happens it is worth stopping by.

There is a match museum (Museo dos Fosforos) which can count as your odd museum of the day as well as other nice churches around town.

Another thing that I like to do when I pass through Tomar is just walk on the river and stop and have lunch with the castle and the old town in the background. Tomar is a great town to visit and at only two hours from Lisbon on a slow suburban train (faster with car), it is well worth the trip.

Evora, Portugal

The walled city of Evora is what some consider (Wolters’ World has Evora in its top ten cities to visit in Portugal list) the crown jewel of the Alentejo region of Portugal. The city has survived earthquakes and much worse over the years and gives us all a wonderful view of a Portuguese old town. The town itself has numerous sites for the tourists.

The main sites are the Roman Temple that was only “discovered” when people renovated the building 200 years ago. Lucky for us it left the temple in amazing condition and it is right next to a quaint little park and the Se or Cathedral. The cathedral is worth stopping in for its art collection and the cool cloister. Right between the cathedral and temple is the city museum which is worth a pop inside.

Video of the Roman Temple, Cathedral and City Museum of Evora

There are roman bathes that you can visit as well in order to see some more of Evora’s historic past.

Now the most interesting and most possibly disturbing site in Evora is the Bone Chapel (Capela dos Ossos) next to the Igraja de Sao Francisco. The chapel contains the remains of 5000 that was designed and built by a 17^th century monk to remind us of our own mortality and in order to get us focused on being better people… I guess he is still hoping. It is quite the site. Check out the video below.

There are a few other sites to see in Evora, the churches, the walls and more. It is a university town so it does not have such an old feel to it for such an old town. The food is great in this part of Portugal so definitely stop into one of the local restaurants on your stop in Evora.

The Tourism office is at Praca do Giraldo which is a nice spot to sit and have a drink and watch the locals wander by. See the video below.

Evora is the end stop on the Lisbon – Evora train line. It will take you about two hours on a train to get there. The bus is a bit faster and has more convenient times.