Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Portalegre
(normal/express €8, 30 minutes, three to five daily)
Reguengos de Monsaraz
(express €8, ¾ hour, two weekdays, one weekends)
Vila Viçosa
(normal/express €5.50/9, 1½/one hour, one to six weekdays)
TRAIN
Évora station
( 266 742 336)
The train station is outside the walls, 600m south of the
jardim
público.
There are daily trains to/from Lisbon (€12.50, 1½ hours, four daily). Trains also
go to/from Beja (change in Casa Branca; €7.20, 2¼ hours, four daily), Lagos (€31.10, 4½
to five hours, three daily) and Faro (€29.30, four to five hours, two daily).
Getting Around
CAR & BICYCLE
Evora Adventure Bike
(
969 095 880, 266 702 326; Travessa do Barão 18; €8/40 half-day/4 days;
9am-9pm)
Half-day and multi-day bike rental.
Europcar
( 266 742 627; Estrada de Viana, Lot 10; 9am-1pm Mon-Fri, 3-6.30pm Mon-Sat)
For car hire.
In front of Lidl supermarket on the outskirts of town (direction of Viana).
TAXI
Taxis
( 266 734 734)
Congregate in Praça do Giraldo. On a weekday you can expect to pay
about €6 from the train station to Praça do Giraldo.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Around Évora
Megaliths - the word is derived from the ancient Greek for 'big stones' - are found all
over the ancient landscape that surrounds Évora. These prehistoric structures, built around
5000 to 7500 years ago, dot the European Atlantic coast, but here in Alentejo there is an
astounding amount of Neolithic remains. Dolmens (Neolithic stone tombs -
antas
in Por-
tuguese) were probably temples and/or collective tombs, covered with a large flat stone
and usually built on hilltops or valleys, near water lines. Menhirs (individual standing
stones) point to fertility rites - as phallic as skyscrapers, if on a smaller scale - and cro-
meleques, organised sets of standing stones, seem to incorporate basic astronomic orienta-
tions related to seasonal transitions (equinoxes and solstices).
