Daily Word Count: 0
Cumulative Words Written: 59,414
Total Words Discarded: 14,500
Total Chapters Drafted: 24
Time Spent Writing Today: 0 hours
I’ve never been good at fleeing the crazy. Instead, I stew in the crazy. I bask in it. Mainline it. Wallow and revel and dwell.
My trip to Evora was about fleeing the crazy.
Here’s what I did.
After venting aloud in the car for almost two hours, I parked at Parking Evora (search terms for Google Maps). Free all day. A short walk inside the city walls to all attractions.
My first stop was the Roman ruin formerly known as the Temple of Diana. Now believed to be a temple to the cult of Caesar Augustus, it dominates one of the city’s highest points.
From there, I wound my way down quiet residential streets to escape the tourist din. In less than ten minutes, I arrived at the Church of San Francisco and its eerie Bone Chapel.
Originally founded as a monastery around 1224, the bone chapel is constructed of the bones of various monks interred there. It is a creepy reminder of life’s fleeting nature.
The Chapel of Bones was the perfect reminder of where I am right now.
The Church of San Francisco also has an interesting museum in the old dormitory and a crazy Nativity scene collection on the roof.
Evora is a mishmash of architecture. Gothic and Baroque live side-by-side with ancient ruins. The Church of Nossa Senhora de Grassa is an equisite example of Baroque.
After an authentic Alentejan lunch (featured yesterday), I walked to Evora Cathedral for a leisurely tour.
Evora Cathedral is a palace of pink granite.
The roof tour is A MUST. Views stretch all over the Alenejan countryside.
After my final church tour, I wandered stone streets and kitsch shops. I love the unexpected in old cities. A peeling door. A random bit of ancient city wall embedded between buildings. The juxtaposition of light and architecture and sky.
I finished my visit where I most needed to be. In Acqua Veritas is one of the most serene, gorgeous Roman baths I’ve ever visited. Tucked in a building very close to the square pictured above, it houses three baths. The space is soothingly dark with a brick vault ceiling. Arches soar over the granite pools. I overspent my allotted time there BY A LOT and had the place to myself for almost two hours. Check it out here: https://www.inacquaveritas.com/en/
I haven’t worked on my manuscript in two days, but I’ve been doing other very unpleasant work off the page. Evora gave me a chance to change my scenery. I highly recommend a visit on any trip to Portugal.
To follow my residency at Buinho Creative Hub from the beginning, CLICK HERE and read forward.
2 Comments
Hmm. A careen to the serene. 🙂
Yes. Even more thankful I did it now.
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