Portugal without the crowds

Sé Cathedral

Monica Gumm

The nave of the cathedral

Evora manages to be not only an outstandingly beautiful and well-preserved city, but also functional and user-friendly. Almost everything worth seeing lies within the ring of fortifications, and nothing is further than a half-hour walk from anything else. So it makes sense to leave your car in one of the various car parks outside the walls and take to the cobbled streets of the centre, heading perhaps for the Praça do Giraldo, epicentre of Evora's civic life, or making your way to the nucleus formed by the Roman temple, the Pousada de Evora, Lóios, the city museum, the old library - a good example of the Portuguese genius for conservation, with time-worn wooden shelves and ranks of leather-bound books - and the cathedral.

The grandest of Evora's many imposing religious buildings, the cathedral (known as the Sé) crowns the town and can be seen for miles from the surrounding countryside. Begun in the 12th century, it has a solid, gloomy aspect and crenellated walls giving it the look of a fortress. Its Gothic grimness is surpassed only by that of the church of São Francisco's infamous Capela dos Ossos ('bone chapel'), a chilling piece of baroque interior design that employs thousands of human skulls and bones. Beyond a skull-encrusted window lies a children's playground, the shouts and laughter in poignant contrast to the gruesomeness within.

After a couple of days pounding the cobbles, you may feel you have earned a respite from Evora's panoply of palaces and convents. Within easy reach of the city by car are the neolithic remains of Almendres, the historic towns of Montemor-o-Novo and Arraiolos (famous for its handmade carpets), and the immense new Alqueva reservoir, focus of various original tourist enterprises including cruises and watersports.