Throw Back Thursday Where East Meets West Evora Portugal
I was looking through some files recently and came across a box of photos. It's the sort of thing people used to do before every thing became instant with our phones. There were even negatives in the envelopes, but that's for another topic.
My first look had me thinking they were from a trip to Greece we had taken in the late 1980's but the as I progressed through the photos it was more familiar to a trip to Portugal we took in 1996.
In looking at the photo you may appreciate my confusion, it looks like a miniature version of the Greek Acropolis, but in fact is a temple to the gods erected by the Romans when they occupied the Western European colonies around 40 BC.
They were not the first to occupy the area as the history of occupations goes back almost 5,000 years to the early Celts.
The country, like so many others in the early BC eras, was claimed by feudal lords but as the area was so rich and great for farming, it was often spared the harsh ravages of occupation and allowed to prosper.
Around the early 900 AD time it was occupied by the Moors, Muslim tribes from the far eastern end of the Mediterranean sea. They transformed the town into a fortress and held it for almost 500 years. Off the town center was a large mosque, a portion of the spire can be seen above the walls to the left side of the photo below.
And when the country was again returned to the Kings that established the republic, a cathedral was built at the other end of the square.
West meets East, meets West again. Evora is in the Alentejo a region in the south central part of the country not very far from the Portuguese Riveria, or Algarve.
It is very important for wineries all over the world as the trees found in abundance in the area produce the product known as cork.
Within the central square town of Evora are the ruins of the occupations by the Celts, Romans, Moors, and the present forefathers of the country.
Throw Back Thursday Where East Meets West Evora Portugal
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