Day 5 Sightseeing in Evora

What a perfect day it has been to see this wonderful town of Evora. After another talk with fellow bike tourist Peter Davis from Oregon in the USA to advise him about a suitable route for his trip south, I walked into town for more exploring.
  It was actually enjoyable to get lost in the maze of old narrow streets looking at some of the amazing 24 listed sights such as the Roman-Gothic cathedral,  Roman temple, aquaduct, several palaces, churches, monasteries and museums. 
  It would actually be possible to spend a week trotting up and down the cobbled lanes of Évora to see all the sights and sampling some of the great Portugese food in their quaint little bar/come restaurants.
  As is the case everywhere in Portugal the main town square in Evora was filled with men either just sitting, talking animately or just generally watching the world go by.
  They never seem to do anything in particular, often not even talking to one another or playing board games as they do in France.
  On previous days despite their quiet stance, they became surprisingly animated if I waved or shouted hello as I passed on my bike.
  Their hands would fly into the air to return my greeting and they seemed to shout words of encouragement ... or were they really calling me a bloody idiot. I guess I will never know, but each time I decided to take the positive spin.
  Anyway, I plan to spend the rest of the day just hanging around the camp ground before heading out in the morning. After a close inspection of the map I have decided to alter my route somewhat to dodge the main road between Evora and Estremoz. After the frightening experience with the traffic outide of Beja, I have decided that secondary roads are definitely the way to go!!
  I will now follow route 370 via the towns of  Arraiolos, Pavia and Avis to meet up with what was going to be my original route at Alter de Chao. This should take a couple of days with hopefully less hill climbing than further down south.


captions Pic 1: A fairly typical building in old Evora. Pic 2: There seems to be plenty iof renovations underway. Pic 3: Local men in the town square Pic 4: The historic cathedral Pic 5: Looks like a stone corpse in the main street???????????? Pic 6: Jesus is alive and well in Evora.