"Beja - Portugal Page" a Beja Travel Page by TinKan

If you ask a Portuguese person about Beja they will tell you NOT to go there as it is in the middle of a desert and it is full of really sloooooow people (it is in Alentejo).

Beja is a small town located in the southeastern part of Portugal and at one time was a very important part of the Moors Empire.

There is much history here and some neat things to see and do so if you do ever find yourself in Beja look around and see what you can find.

The city is supposed to be the Pax Julia, or Paca, of the Romans, and is still surrounded by remains of old Roman walls, which however, were partly restored during the Middle Ages. Beja was taken from the Moors in 1162 by Affonso Henriques. It stands on the summit of a high hill surrounded by beautiful and fertile valleys under cultivation, as the district is rich in agricultural products, mainly cereals, olive oil, and wine. The best example of medieval architecture still extant in Portugal is the castle built in Beja by King Dom Diniz. It is a square, massive structure 120 feet high, from the top of which the whole of the Alemtejo country and the Cintra mountains may be seen. The walls of the castle are covered with hieroglyphics. Beja was in its early days an episcopal city, but at the time of the invasion by the Moors lost its dignity. The Cathedral of Beja is an old temple, though so much modernized as to make it impossible to determine with any degree of certainty its original date. Other famous churches are those of Our Lady of the Conception, St. Iago, or Santiago, and Santa Maria de la Feira, said to have been an old Moorish mosque. The College of St. Sissenando, which belonged to the Jesuits, and was built principally at the expense of Donna Maria Sophia, in 1695, stands in the street where the saint was born. Part of this building is now occupied by the episcopal palace. The city has about 8,000 inhabitants, modern improvements, schools, banks, libraries, etc. It is said to be the richest in Roman remains of all the cities in Portugal, except Evora, which now possesses a large collection of Roman antiquities collected in Beja.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume II
Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Imprimatur.+John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York

Nowadays Beja is a farming community and a University town with a strange mix of farmers, students and migrant workers.

We have worked in this town a few times and look forward to visiting it as we find something new each time we do.