Pousada dos Loios travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

One of Portugal‘s most beautiful hotels is the former monastery of St. John the Baptist founded in 1485. The magnificence if the manueline, gothic building is revealed only once you pass through the relatively simple baroque facade. The monastery was disbanded in 1834 and the building put to various uses, including housing conscripts, but in 1965 it became one of the Portugal’s historic state inns or pousadas.

The guests sleep in thirty-one well-appointed monks’ cells. There is no longer communal washing in the lavatorium, however every third cell has been divided in two to make bathrooms for the rooms on either side. The dining room is on the lower level of the two-story former cloister, next to the sacristy, with its stunning double-horsehoe manueline door. The restaurant offers Alentajano specialties, such as Porco preto ham and typical desserts include pao de rala. Naturally the emphasis is on the red and white wines of the Alentejo region. Splash out and try Pera Manca, Evora’s most prestigious wine.

staying at dos Loios gives visitors a chance to explore the World Heritage site of Evora. Its whitewashed buildings covered in blue tiles suggest very little has changed here since the eighteenth century. Location: Evora, Portugal.