8 September 2019

We are in Évora, a UNESCO world heritage site and now potential “site of major significance” of sorts for my sunglasses. More later.

We enjoyed a large breakfast at our hotel and headed out early to find a laundromat. Our limited amount of clothing, and hot sweaty weather made this imperative!! We might well be in a World Heritage site, but clean clothes were our number one priority!

Now laundromats are not found in the highly touristed areas in the centre of the town or city. They are usually in the back streets, unpopular and empty.

We found “CleanSpot” and settled in for up to three quarters of an hour washing and drying our clothes.

It was around then that I realised something I had for breakfast was causing grumblings down below. Now if this offends you , or makes you feel uncomfortable, stop reading!

The search for a bathroom was now my new number one priority. There were none. We were off the tourist strip and we could only find a little backstreet coffee shop with a few local ladies having a morning gossip over a cup of tea.

Grahame ordered a coffee and a Portuguese tart, so that I could use the bathroom. The local ladies, seeing the look of desperation in my eyes, suggested I use the men’s as the ladies was already occupied.

Now, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I have never been happier to use a men’s loo!

And this is where the sunglasses come in, or go out, as the case may be. I flushed, noticed a weird scraping noise but thought nothing more. Except that my sunglasses had disappeared!!

I had them when I went into the men’s and I didn’t when I left.

I have no photos of this event!!

The next stop was Évora Cathedral. We climbed the tower just as the large bells rang eleven o’clock. Not good for the eardrums! The scenery from the roof was terrific, taking in the town and surrounding countryside.

Descending the narrow stairs, we entered the area high above the main part of the church where the choristers did their bit. I loved being up there looking down with the sun streaming in.

Once again, the cathedral interior was amazing, but I must admit after two weeks of churches and castles, they are all beginning to look alike.

Except this one! The Chapel of Bones is pretty memorable! And yep it too is in Évora. Just down the hill from the other one.

All the walls were made from bones collected in the local graveyard and were used in this way to remind us that we, too will come to a similar fate one day. So make the most of it while you can!

Won’t forget this one in a hurry.

Feeling the need to change tack, we went in search of more Roman ruins. Once again it was a hot sweaty walk in the heat of the day.

We found Roman walls, Roman columns and Roman baths in various stages of disrepair. The aqueduct leading out of town though was pretty impressive.

After two weeks of being constantly “on the go”, Grahame and I are finally beginning to adapt to the local way of life. We went for a siesta this afternoon.

What a great invention!

Dinner was at a local restaurant that Grahame had googled. “Cheap and authentic” was what we wanted and it was definitely what we got.

Happy days!