Beja … or … Where is Everybody?

A sea of yellow - masses of sunflowers with their faces turn towards the sun.

Hello - look at me.

So being in Portugal during this time has been an interesting experience for me.  Certainly it is different in Lisbon and likely Porto (but I have not been there) and in the Algarve or the beaches, but come into the interior and it is a different world.  A bit of a flash into the past.  The unequal past.  I have found this difficult.

The Tribunal in Beja

With my rental car, I decided to go for a day trip to Beja, a town steeped in history.  It has a population of about 35,000 (although I don’t know where they were all hiding) and was inhabited during Celtic times and later by the Romans.  It holds a strategic position.  But I will get more into the history in a moment.

Clear Islamic influence in this building

First and foremost, I have to say that I find Portuguese drivers terrible.  I found out, and I don’t know if it is true, but apparently they only switched over from donkeys to cars in the mid-1970s.  So that explains the poor driving as many of the older folks are only new to driving.  But they speed right up behind you and stay on your tail, usually in the middle of the road, pass on switchbacks and other dangerous places, and have total disregard for the speed limit.  It can be a little annoying.  But I try to ignore them.

Now this is an interesting stately door

The other odd thing for me, is that rights of women are a bit different than they are in Canada.  For instance, and certainly in a small village like I live in, women don’t go into the bars or cafes to have a glass of wine.  These are places largely populated strictly by men, almost like women are not allowed.  Also, the Portuguese tend to stare.  I keep wanting to say “shake your head, your eyeballs are stuck!”.  It doesn’t matter if I am just driving through a town or want to stop to take a look, but everyone, men and women alike, but mostly the men, stare at you and watch you like they have nothing better to do.  I find it very invasive.

Don't know what it was, but it was an interesting building

Anyway, enough of my belly aching.  This I just had to get off my chest as I find it makes me feel like I am not welcome.  So I went to Beja, thinking, it being in a bigger centre, that perhaps I could get lost in the crowds and look around for some history.  Well the place was deserted. And much of the streets were being dug up in the historic centre.  When you do find an interesting old building, there was no signage to let me know what it was or its age or history, so I just took pictures and just carried on.

The old Convent - now a museum. Convent of the Poor Ladies

I thought I might take some time and sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy the ambience, but I could not find any place that really looked like a lone woman was welcome to sit and be on her.  Perhaps I was being overly sensitive, that is entirely possible, but I have to respect my gut.

The ornate, yet closed door of the Convent

But it was an interesting place and I have to say that I didn’t worry about bumping into other tourists.  Beja was under Muslim rule (as was much of Portugal – thus the Islamic influence) from 1031 to 1234.

Roman ruins

Many wars depopulated the town and gradually reduced it to rubble. Only with D. Manuel I in 1521 did Beja again reach the status of city. It was attacked and occupied by the Portuguese and the Spanish armies during thePortuguese Restoration War (1640–1667).

Deserted Streets

Beja became again the head of a bishopric in 1770, more than a thousand years after the fall of the Visigothic city. In 1808 Napoleonic troops under General Junot sacked the city and massacred the inhabitants.  Hmmm, maybe I do understand their lack of friendliness towards foreigners afterall.