Quick impressions: Tomar + Evora ( Portugal )
I've lost count. It must have been my third or fourth trip to Portugal. So the trip had to cover the areas I had missed so far including Madeira, but also Tomar and Evora.
Below image is of Tomar
Tomar was a 2 hour train ride from Lisbon and then 2 hours back. It was raining like hell. Despite that I liked it quite a lot. The monastery, which in the photo you can see me standing on it's roof, was simply amazing and beautiful. Usually I get a bit bored with churches and stuff but this monastery was enormous. The town itself was sort of cute with a river passing thru it. Unfortunately the train schedule meant I had to rush back to the train station and I missed seeing the aqcuaduct that is 7 KM outside the town.
Below image is of Evora at night
To go to Evora after Tomar, meant I had to be stuck for some hours in the Oriente station in Lisbon and the surrounding area which includes a huge Mall. The Oriente station is the one designed by the architect Calatrava. To be honest, it looks better in pictures than in person. The problem is that these structures based on metal and glass get dirty very quick and unlike buildings made with stone that look equaly nice when dirty, these Calatrava stuff looks cheap when dirty. To make things worst it was raining and 200 meters away there were kids lining up for a Rammstein concert under the rain !!
Evora was a very nice surprise. It had way more to offer than I had expected. Probably due to careful and good zone and building planning, no annoying tall or horrible buildings have been allowed, keeping the towns original charm. The only week part of Evora is the walk from the train station to the town center.
Comments