EVORA PORTUGAL: POUSADA DOS LOIOS, CHAPEL, & MUSEUM

On our tour of Portugal and southern Spain, we stayed two nights at the Pousada dos Loios in Evora, Portugal, a boutique hotel (36 rooms) converted from a 15th century convent for monks.  (It appears that the terms "convent" and "monastery" originally were distinguished by their size--with convent being a smaller facility--rather than by whether they housed monks or nuns.)  I had this vision of our sleeping in a dark and dank monk's cell--windowless, bare walls, etc.  But at least our room was generous in size and nicely appointed, if a bit rustic.

Associated with the pousada were a chapel and museum that for a small admission fee we were able to tour.  Both chapel and museum were modest.  Here, first, is a shot of the entrance to the chapel.

And below are a few architectural shots of the chapel interior.

I did like the pulpit, which was situated on a side wall of the nave.

The chapel also featured an interesting madonna with unusual uplighting.

The chapel also included a "museum."  I put the word in quotation marks because it really wasn't much of a museum and appeared themeless, just a hodgepodge of exhibits that had been cobbled together.  They included a series of paintings of various clerics from the 16th century all of whom must have been painted by the same artist, as they looked like twins.  Here is one of those.

Would you be happy with that as your portrait?

A staircase led to an upper level that housed what appeared to be skylines made from simple plywood cutouts with indirect lighting.  I thought they were interesting, even if totally unrelated to the anything else in the museum.  I felt they worked best as black & whites.

I also liked the following photo that I also turned into a black & white.

I thought the repeating doorways, along with the little figurine on the left and the window light reflected off the polished but bumpy flooring help to make the shot.

I also liked a pair of copper teapots that were on a deal table in the hallway of our pousada that featured "dueling" spouts.

Finally, I got a couple of shots of some Roman columns from the 2nd century C.E. located in our pousada's courtyard.

John