Évora, Portugal with a Leica MP & Foma 100

Not only photogenic, historic and interesting (a UNESCO world heritage site, European Capital of Culture for 2027), Évora also has a superb hotel in a converted former nunnery and most importantly an excellent wine cellar. Being the capital city of the Alentejo wine producing region this is to be expected. This was our fourth or fifth visit and although Évora is a small city it’s hard to tire of its medieval centre, narrow streets and alleyways, bars and restaurants, and many little architectural gems. For a proper description see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89vora.

Photographs were taken on my Leica MP with Zeiss Planar 50mm lens on Foma 100 and stand developed in Rodinal 100:1, scanned with a BlackBox 135 and Sigma 105mm macro on a Sony A7Riii, processed in RawTherapee. Some photographs were taken early in the morning with low light but generally taken in good light and often with a red filter.

The 16^th century well-preserved ‘Prata Aqueduct’ brought water from 9km away in the north-west. The structure dominates the view on one side of the city and leads into the rising ground of the city with small shops and businesses nestled under its slowly diminishing arches. The featured image shows the aqueduct leading into the city taken from the main road just outside the city wall.

The medieval centre was surrounded by the city wall, in part remaining, separating the historic part of town from the less interesting more recent parts.

One of the main attractions of medieval towns is the layout of the narrow cobbled sometimes meandering streets. One thing that struck me afterwards, especially when reviewing my images, is how similar many medieval cities are at the street level – Evora, Cascais, Brussels, parts of Lisbon, Carcassonne, even Sucre (Bolivia), and others. How similar were inhabitants lives then … and now? Has much changed other than the street furniture in modern cities?

Making our way through the streets sometimes barely wide enough for a car to drive through (and they do drive through), occasionally leads to unexpectedly dilapidated corners but also interesting little bars. At first it’s easy to get lost but it can never last long – you either get to the city wall or to the main thoroughfare.

Heading back to the main thoroughfare through the city brings us to the central open square with bars, restaurants and crowds even in December, and a church.

Quickly tiring of the crowds after a refreshing orange juice we head up to the cathedral and the nearby remains of the Roman temple dedicated to Emperor Augustus. The remains are surrounded by a small park and from the far edge there is an elevated view of part of the city and the countryside beyond.

Light on a wall and the shadow of a lamp catch my attention.

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