Évora & Alentejo,
where time is ancient.

01.Hotel Pickup in Lisbon

Your driver arrives at your hotel with coffee in the cup-holders. The drive heads southeast across the Vasco da Gama Bridge — the longest in Europe — then onto the A6 motorway through increasingly open countryside. The light changes as you cross the Tagus; the temperature rises a few degrees; the Atlantic gives way to inland Portugal.

02.First Sight of the Walls

Évora reveals itself slowly — the medieval walls appear above the plain, with the cathedral spires rising from the center. We park just outside the gates and enter on foot. The old city is small enough to walk in one morning, and pedestrian-only inside the walls. The streets are paved in white-and-black calçada portuguesa, narrow and shaded.

03.The Roman Temple of Diana

The best-preserved Roman temple on the Iberian Peninsula, built in the 1st century AD on the orders of the city’s Roman rulers. Six fluted Corinthian columns and a stylobate platform sit in a square at the city’s highest point, surrounded by 16th-century palaces — the medieval city literally built itself around the temple. The contrast is stunning: imperial Rome and Renaissance Portugal a few meters apart.

The temple survived because for centuries it was walled in and used as a slaughterhouse, which probably saved it from being quarried for stone.

04.Évora Cathedral & Cloisters

A 90-second walk from the temple sits the Sé (Cathedral of Évora) — a 13th-century Gothic-Romanesque cathedral, the largest medieval cathedral in Portugal. Granite walls, soaring nave, Gothic cloisters with Moorish arcade influences, and a rooftop terrace with views over the entire walled city and the Alentejo plain stretching to the horizon. Optional €5 rooftop climb if your legs allow.

05.The Chapel of Bones (Capela dos Ossos)

This is the moment of the tour you won’t forget. Inside the Royal Church of St. Francis, a small 16th-century chapel was built by Franciscan monks who wanted visitors to confront the certainty of death. The interior walls and pillars are lined with the bones and skulls of approximately 5,000 monks — carefully arranged as a meditation on mortality and the brevity of life.

The chapel is small, dim, and quiet. Most visitors spend 15–20 minutes inside. It’s strange, contemplative, oddly beautiful — not a horror exhibit. We’ll wait outside as long as you need.

06.The Old University & Praça do Giraldo

A walking tour of medieval Évora — we wind through the white-and-yellow streets past the Jesuit-founded University of Évora (1559), one of Europe’s oldest, and down to the Praça do Giraldo, the central square ringed with arcaded buildings, a Renaissance fountain, and cafés. Time to sit, have an espresso, watch the city move.

07.Traditional Alentejo Lunch

Alentejo cuisine is distinct — bread-based stews, slow-cooked meats, abundant olive oil, fresh local cheese, and bold red wines. Our usual choice is a family-run restaurant inside the walls (sometimes Fialho, sometimes Botequim da Mouraria depending on availability). Try the açorda (bread stew with garlic and coriander), the porco preto (Iberian black pork, see add-on), or the migas alentejanas. Lunch is on you — typically €30–45 per person with wine.

08.Alentejo Wine Estate Tasting

A short drive out of Évora to a working herdade (estate). The Alentejo is one of Portugal’s most important wine regions — bold reds from Aragonez, Trincadeira, and Alicante Bouschet grapes, plus oaky whites from Antão Vaz. Estate visit, vineyard walk, and a tasting of 3–4 wines, typically about 45 minutes. Optional bottle purchases at estate prices, far below retail.

09.Return Drive to Lisbon

The drive back is the most reflective hour of the trip. Most guests are quiet — not asleep, but settled. The bone chapel sits in your mind for a while. We can play classical music or stay silent. Wine purchases ride safely in the trunk. We’re back at your hotel by 5:00pm with the evening ahead.

10.Hotel Drop-off in Lisbon

Back to your hotel with bottles, memory cards, and enough thought-material for the evening. Most guests take a quiet dinner after this tour — the day asks for something simple. We can drop you at a restaurant directly if you’d prefer to continue with a quiet meal somewhere.