Evora & The Alentejo Table

The Roman Temple of Évora was built in the first century AD. It is still standing in the middle of a working city, with café tables twenty metres from its columns and pigeons on its capitals. No fence, no ticket barrier, no interpretive panel blocking the view. Just the thing itself, in the morning light, before the tour buses arrive.

This Évora private tour begins at your Lisbon hotel at 09:00, arriving in the historic centre by 10:45, at the hour when the city is still its own. The morning moves through the cathedral square, the old medina lanes, and the Chapel of Bones at the Igreja de São Francisco — where the walls and ceiling are lined with the remains of approximately 5,000 monks. The inscription above the entrance sets the tone: “We bones that are here, await yours.” It takes fifteen minutes. It stays considerably longer.

The late morning is yours. Lunch follows at a table selected and reserved by MBV.TRAVEL — not a tourist menu, but a restaurant where the food reflects what people in Évora actually eat.

In the afternoon, a short drive through cork forest brings you to a working Alentejo estate — one of the finest wine tasting experiences Portugal’s interior has to offer. The visit begins with a cellar and vineyard visit, followed by a luxury picnic as the light changes over the plains. The wines are the estate’s own, served with traditional petiscos: charcuterie, local cheeses, bread, and olives.

As the sun descends, the picnic is accompanied by a live performance of Cante Alentejano — the traditional polyphonic singing of the Alentejo, recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Heard in the open air, it is the defining reason this Évora private tour with live traditional music in the Alentejo stays with a traveller long after the return to Lisbon.

Door-to-door return to your Lisbon hotel by approximately 20:00.