# Pasteis de Nata: 2, Distance Walked: 9.8km, # Floors Climbed: 15
Not a lot to write about today as I spent a lot of it just sitting around. My train wasn't until 1:30pm so I sat around my hotel until 10:30am (latest possible check-out). I took the metro to the railway station, rather than a taxi, as I wasn't in a hurry but I still got there at 11am. Plenty of time to kill.
The location was all a bit of a maze. In addition to the intercity railway station, there was the metro stop, the arcade of shops that always goes with a major train station, a bus station for intercity coaches and a plain old shopping centre. They were all connected.
I puttered around the shopping centre for an hour, making use of the nice, clean loos rather than the nasty, smelly ones in the train station. In there I saw a woman with suitcases who was "freshening up". Now I've seen people in airport toilets cleaning teeth and putting on deodorant, but this woman took it to a whole new level. She had one leg up on the basin (very flexible) and was shaving her legs!
Évora is a world heritage site, with lots of narrow, steep cobblestone streets within remnants of an old Roman city wall. My hotel is an old 15th century house with warehouses and stables. My taxi driver had to go around 3 sides of a square to drive up to the door, there are so many one-way streets. Even so he only got me to the back door. I had to climb 2 flights of stairs, with my suitcase, to get to reception. There is a road out front but it is even narrower and most taxi drivers won't use it unless you insist.
My room is enormous. Light and airy with barrel vaulted ceilings, which is why I suspect it is part of the old warehouse. Their website claims all rooms have picturesque views. I guess if you believe a view of the building across the alley is picturesque then that is true. I did book the 2nd cheapest type of room they have admittedly.
After checking in I headed out to a pastry shop that had been recommended to me. However, their pastel de nata was merely Good (the pastry base was a little stodgy). OK, but not worth trekking across town for in 34C heat.
Next stop was the Capelo dos Osso (or Chapel of Bones). This was seriously creepy. It is so named because its walls are made from human bones. I would need confirmation from a real medical professional, but from my watching of too many crime shows, it appears that the horizontal bones are arm bones and the nubbly bits are the head of legs bones (the walls are that thick just the ends stick out). The skulls are obviously skulls. Just to add to the macabre sensation, there was a kindergarten next door so you could hear children shouting and laughing as you looked at the bones of all these people.
Apparently the purpose of all this was to remind you that you will die, so you should behave yourself (although phrased more philosophically than that).
After this educational experience I just puttered around town planning on where to go for dinner. I came across this sign so I had to go to this restaurant.
It was an experience. The owner and chef, Jorge, meets every diner at the door and personally escorts them to a table, usually with a friendly hand on your shoulder. He sits down at your table and explains the day's menu to you. He later comes back and takes your order. He also comes out after each course has been served to you to check that you are enjoying it. Understandably this means service is a little slow. There is a waitress but her job is merely to fetch and carry.
I started with a salad of tomato and goat's cheese. It came with 2 types of tomato and 3 types of goat's cheese and lots of different greens. Tasty Goodness but could have used a touch more salt.
For main I had pork cheeks slow cooked in red wine. Jorge wasn't kidding when he said he serves his meals with vegetables. This is what I got.
The things that look like eggs are actually boiled potatoes topped with a spinach and garlic puree. The rest of the vegetables were lightly steamed and then tossed in olive oil. I had little piles of zatar and garlic salt to season my veg to taste. It was all very Good.
I crammed in dessert just because. I had a cake that was made with super thin layers of a cake made with ground hazelnuts and eggs whites and sugar, sandwiched together with layers of dulce de leche. I should have take a side-on photo. The whole thing was only about 5 cm tall but there were 5 layers of cake. It was, again, very Good.
The food tonight wasn't the best I've eaten in Portugal, but the experience was easily the best ever.
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