A mild, but relatively wet winter and hot, sunny summer are typical of Evora district, in the south-east of Portugal. This is where you’ll experience the country’s highest temperatures, an area that lacks the regulating effect of the Atlantic, as it basks in close to 3,000 hours of sunshine every year. Frosts in winter are frequent but not usually severe, snow falling only usually twice a decade. Average winter temperatures often stay below 10 °C (50 °F).
With 91 parishes in 14 municipalities, Evora district has a population of 173,000 or thereabouts, spread over around 7,400 km2 (2,850 sq. miles), offering a comfortable population density of 23 people/km2 (61 people/sq. mile).
District capital city Évora was ranked number two in the Expresso newspaper’s survey of Portugal’s most liveable cities that looked at living conditions and came first in a competitiveness analysis of all 18 Portuguese district capitals, carried out by economists at the Minho University. It is home to the state-run University of Évora and district hospital.
To avoid blazing heat, think about exploring Évora in Spring and Autumn when you can enjoy the district capital’s well-preserved, medieval atmosphere and a Roman Temple that has earned Évora UNESCO World Heritage site status, and membership of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.
Évora city and district are important to cultural and economic life in Alentejo and is a hub for Portugal’s growing aerospace sector. Brazilian aircraft manufacturing giant Embraer is premised here. The city has an aeronautical park, complete with aerodrome, and has attracted considerable investment from companies such as Lauak and Mecachrome.
Tourism plays an important role too in these districts fortunes, seeing great growth in recent years with the creation of new hotels and other types of tourist accommodation. Public transport to Évora is therefore adequate and improving, with talk of a high-speed rail link to Lisbon and Madrid. Évora Municipal Airport is a small airfield like those at Beja and Badajoz. Major airports Lisbon (around 130 km, 80 miles away) and Faro (around 170 km, 105 miles away) serve international visitors.
Portugal is the world’s second-largest marble exporter, and around 85% (over 370,000 tons) of it comes from Évora districts Estremoz, Borba and Vila Viçosa. Internationally-renowned and loved for its texture and range of colour - white, cream, pink, grey or black, with streaks of the same - it’s the pink marble (Rosa Aurora, Estremoz Pink) that generates the highest demand.
Portuguese explorers exported marble to Africa, India and Brazil and local marble can be found in many of the nation’s most famous and historic monuments, including the monasteries of Batalha and Alcobaça as well as the Tower of Belém. You’ll see marble everywhere in this part of Portugal - on doorsteps, streets and even turned into paint for whitewashing houses.
Diplomatic anomaly is Olivenza, a disputed area on the Portugal-Spain border. Though administered by Spain as a municipality belonging to the Spanish province of Badajoz, Portugal doesn’t recognise Spanish sovereignty. Despite historic congressional rulings in Portugal’s favour, Olivença and its surroundings have never returned to Portuguese control. Portugal holds a claim over it and Portuguese culture and language lives on in the people, although younger locals only now speak Spanish.
Famed Reguengos blankets and embroidered wool rugs and carpets from Arraiolos, made since the Middle Ages, are other treasures from this hot, deeply historic and visually arresting landscape. Heat-seekers who can live without the full-on intensity of city life will love the lifestyle and atmosphere offered in the district of Evora, which has a rich mix of rural and urban, as and when required.
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For a detailed look at the area topography please click here
If you are planning a trip to view properties in this District and need help or guidance, get in touch Contact us and we will put you in touch with a property expert that speaks your language.
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