(The Chapel of Bones)

Next morning we drove up the road to Évora. It was a hot dry Sunday and we were on a mission. Two missions really. Denis had heard about the Chapel of Bones and wanted to see it. I wanted to find a souvenir to remind me of storks when I was at home.

(The words above the door: We bones that are here are waiting for yours...)

First the chapel. Of bones. Yep real bones and skulls. Thousands of them. The chapel was built and decorated in the 1600’s. Seemingly it was a popular thing to remind the living that they would be dead soon. There are words over the entrance that read, We bones that are here are waiting for yours.

(Cute knitted Christmas scene)

Upstairs is a little more jolly. There’s a huge collection of Christmas cribs from all over the world. Some are adorable. I particularly liked the ceramic ones and the knitted ones. Évora has been a town since Roman times and there a Roman ruin in the center along with plenty more recent cathedrals and churches.

(And a ceramic one. This is my favourite, the parents can’t take their eyes off their baby)

After the bones it was time for my mission… a stork to take home. First of all it was not easy explaining to the various shopkeepers what I wanted as the word stork is not Portuguese and I didn’t know the Portuguese word. Fortunately, I have hundreds (very slight exaggeration) of photos of storks on my phone and I was able to show them pictures. Ah cegonha… (sounded like the actress Sigourney Weaver) they would say, followed by, No.

(View of Évora from the roof )

No stork souvenirs. I tried nearly twenty little tourist shops and then gave up. On the way back to our parking spot we stopped for an ice cream and while I was sitting there I noticed a shop I hadn’t tried. Couldn’t leave the last tourist shop unchecked so I went in. They had one! Not entirely attractive. No, let’s be honest, a completely terrible likeness for the beauty that is a stork.

Yes, I bought it. Mairead.

(Évora: free parking, 15 minutes walk to center of town, free water)