The City of Moura - What to visit

Moura is a small city lying on top of a hill with the old city center higher up and the newer parts surrounding it. Going for a walk around town you will find many different places to visit, just stop at a local tavern or café/pastry shop if you need a break from walking around, things are never far away from each other in this place.

Fonte das Três Bicas: This is one of two fountains in the old town, the other being Fonte da Santa Comba. The fresh water sources made it possible for people to live here since prehistoric times and the water quality was so good that they built a thermae (water spa) here for tourist who needed it for their health and well being.

Mouraria: Mouraria is the part of old town just outside the castle where the Moorish part of the population where living even after the Christians had conquered the city. You will recognise it on the small two or one storied houses, painted white with cute moorish chimneys and lot's of flowers and potted plants outside in the streets. Try imagining these narrow streets with donkeys walking past, people selling their goods, the smell of oranges and spices, with the women closing their doors to the very private homes, some even without proper windows. Today it is a beautiful labyrinth worthy of appreciation.


Church of São João Baptista (St John the Baptist): This is a pearl with typical Portuguese architecture and classified as a national monument. The church inside the castle walls was too small to house the population so they rebuilt and expanded a chapel of St John the Baptist outside of the walls. It was the king D. Manuel I who ordered it to be rebuilt in 1502 A.D. The main city church was built by the architect Cristovão de Almeida and is a good example of the Portuguese Manuelino style. A more in debt blog post about that particular architectural style will soon come. It is a national variation of the so called late gothic style with beautiful, pointy arches and lot's of decorations, mainly in stonework. On the outside you will notice it primarily at the entrance with it's decorations and on the inside the arches over the three naves are very typical of this period. The noblemen and clergy sat in the central nave whilst the common people had to sit on the two side aisles.

The church is covered on the inside with beautiful white, blue and yellow tiles, originating from the 1600s, thanks to Rui Lourenço da Silva who was a nobleman and who invested in adding these baroque tiles to the church's decoration. The side chapel on the right hand side is dedicated to him. There are two people buried within the side chapel on the left dedicated to Santa Catarina, Dona Filipa de Moura and Frei Diogo Vaz Pascoal. This side chapel was the original one on the outside of the city walls before the king decided to expand the chapel into a church.

The church of São Pedro (St Peter): This small church lies midtown, it houses a collection of sacral art, lovely paintings, sculptures and precious church wares, some more than a 1000 years old. The inside is furbished all over with white, blue and yellow tiles making it a colourful and charming church in itself. It costs 1 euro to visit and please do, the money helps with the maintenance and upkeep of those local treasures. Perfect to escape the heat during warm summer days.

The Municipal Museum: The exhibitions are of archaeological and local background. Find out who lived here in prehistoric times up until the 18th century. They have many temporary exhibitions with different themes.

Lagar de Varas do Fojo (old Olive oil factory): Ever wondered how people used to make olive oil back in the days? You can have a good look here in order to understand the process behind your extra virgin olive oil and how much work was behind it. The place, built in 1810, is restored to very good condition with all the original machines and equipment from the city which makes you appreciate the time consuming task of bringing good quality oil to our tables through centuries. We can't thank the Phoenicians enough for bringing it to our shores and the Romans to make us dependent on it in everyday life and cooking.

The castle: It is believed that the original habitation here ocurred during the Iron Age, that it would have been a fortified site, a so called castro. It has since then fallen into the hands of the Romans, the Visigoths, the Moors and lastly the Christians. There are some visible parts left from the Islamic period that date back to between 1000 -1100 A.D. You can still today see the mud-brick tower called Torre da Salúquia where the legendary Moorish princess would have jumped from to commit suicide after the city had fallen into Christian hands. On the inside you will see many layers of archaeology and building phases. Some of the oldest belong to the Islamic occupation and are still visible after archaeological excavations. There were also habitations for noble families, a dungeon as well as a church and convent for Dominican nuns residing within the castle walls since 1562 until 1875 over the foundations of a mosque. During the 1800s a clock tower was added.

The Convento do Carmo (Carmelite Convent): If it is closed when you arrive, ask around the neighborhood for someone who has a spare key to open it up for you. It is a magnificent old convent, although a bit shabby looking on the outside, the entrance in itself is very inviting painted in white and yellow, typical colours in the region of Alentejo. It was founded in 1251 but most of the building shows the Manuelino style with some Renaissance features as well.