Evora and it's lovely Convento posada

Monday, October 28, 2019                                                                              Evora

Our arrival at Evora's posada, and first view of the Roman temple, right outside the door.

Even though it's titled a "Convento" from the 1400's, this was a monastery for monks until a century ago

The eagle over the entryway door is the symbol of St. John the Evangelist

We arrived at the Pousada Convento de Evora around 6:30 on Sunday night, in the dark because of the daylight savings time change.  The posada is inside the old walls of the Roman city so we walked up from where the bus could park outside the old city walls.  The many small steps and uneven cobble stones made it somewhat precarious, so I got out my phone flash light to keep from taking a tumble.

We stayed in "cell 104" - we could do our penance while resting at night :-)

Entrance to our room - the window looks into the tiny bathroom

Two twin beds, and room for an easy chair - not bad for a former monk's cell

Claw foot bathtub - with a drain in the middle of the tile floor for those of us that splash a little (Michael!)

The posada is also called the Pousada dos Loios, and was originally the monastery of St. John the Evangelist and founded in 1485.  It was declared a national monument in 1922 and in 1965, it opened as a posada.  The rooms have the original dimensions of the monk's cells, and the building has a lovely cloister as a focal point.

When we arrived, we were assigned room number (cell number) 104.  These are the former monks’ cells,  and we were told that the rooms were a bit small.  They seem fine to me, with 2 twin beds configured together, a large leather easy chair and a big bathroom with a claw foot tub.  Our bags were delivered within about 15 minutes of our arrival, and we freshened up and got ready for our dinner at 8 PM.

Dinner in the courtyard walkway

Just the beginning of a large selection of pestiscos (multiple small plates) for dinner.

Our dinner was a series of pestiscos (Portuguese equivalent of tapas).  We were served padron peppers, tomato tiborna (like bruschetta), selection of Alentejo regional cheeses and smokes meats, mushrooms stuffed with smoked sausage “Farinheira”, mini chicken pies, shrimp patties, scrambled eggs with asparagus, sautéed turnip greens and the final course was tomato soup with a poached egg.  It was a lovely repast, with lots of opportunity to talk between the courses.  

Corridor of convent; upper walkway around the cloister

View from our room's window