I landed in Lisbon, Portugal, where I picked up my rental car at the airport, and headed north along the west coast to my first stop: the city of Porto. It was my northernmost stop, which included a tour of the Douro wine valley. (See my previous blogs for those posts.)
I then headed south, stopping Aveiro for a night, and then onto Nazaré for a night.
My longest drive would be when I left Nazaré to head all the way down to the Mediterranean coast for 2 nights, where a 2-Michelin star fine dining experience awaited. (But that’s coming in a later blog post.)
To break my trip up heading south, I drove through the quaint town of Alcobaça, where I briefly stopped to check out the famous monastery founded in 1153, a UNESCO heritage site.
I then continued to the most bizarre portion of my trip: a stop in the town of Évora to see the famous Chapel of Bones (Capela dos Ossos.)
It was built by 16th century Franciscan monks to free up the over 40 overcrowded cemeteries in Évora.
It was not only built out of necessity. The monks wanted to send a message that life on earth is fleeting, and death unites all of us, regardless of wealth, status, or power.
Pretty incredible. Hard to wrap your head around…
Live the Live ™ 