"Beja" a Beja Travel Page by haiamisa

We reached Beja on the late afternoon of 16th of September. We had left Lagos in the morning and driven via Vila Real de Santo Antonio and Mertola (See the two pages.) We found a room in Recidencial Bejense at the center. We walked around the town in the evening and also in the following morning (before continuing to Evora) and liked it alot.

In Portugal Beja is known best by the love affair of a 17th century nun who lived in the Convento de Nossa Senhora de Conceicao, just off Largo dos Duques de Beja. Sister Mariana Alcoforado is believed to have fallen in love with Count Chamilly, a French cavalry officer, and is credited with the notorious (in Portugal at least) "Five love letters of a Portuguese Nun", first published in Paris in 1669. The originals have never been discovered, and a scholarly debate has raged over the authentity of the French "translation". But, both English and Portuguese editions appeared and the letters became internationally famous as a classic romantic literature.

The old quarter is a circular tangle of streets, enclosed within a ring road which has replaced the town walls. At its heart there are two interlocking squares, Largo de Santa Maria and Largo dos Duques de Beja. The convent is an impressive building, built in the 15th century and Manueline style. Other attractions are a magnificent Rococo chapel, Regional museum , castelo and several churches. The town has a choice of accomodation, including pousada, several pensions and a hotel that is located a bit further from the center on the road when coming from Mertola.