City Go

Pego do Inferno (Hell's Pit) is a small waterfall, of about 3 metres, 7 km from Tavira, in the Algarve. As the legend goes it's called Hell's Pit because a carriage fell into it and neither the carriage, the animals or its occupants were ever found. The divers weren't able to find the bottom of the pool and logically assumed it was a passage to the underworld and whoever fell in it would go straight to hell. I hope you're not too disappointed to know the pool is actually 7 metres deep and it's perfectly safe to swim in it. How to get there:  Only by car.

The Folk Art Museum is located in the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation compound, next to the Byzantine Museum and St. John's Cathedral.  It was founded in 1937 and is maintained by a group of volunteers. In 1964 it moved to the premises of the old Archbishopric Palace, after the Archbishop of Cyprus moved to the new palace, so the building alone is worth the visit. It dates back to the 15th century and was built in the gothic style, on top of a benedictine monastery. The Greek orthodox church started using the building sometime before the Ottoman occupation. The Ethnographic museum presents a collection of 19th and early 20th centuries folk art- embroidery, lace, costumes, pottery, metalwork, basketry, folk painting, leather work and woodcarving. For €2 it's definitely worth the visit. Opening hours : Mon.-Fri. 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1 p.m. on Sat.) Entrance fee : €2

The Taifa de Niebla was an independent kingdom in Al-Andalus, for three short periods of time, 1023 to 1053, 1145 to 1150 and 1234 to 1262, associated with the disintegration of the kingdom of Cordoba. This small kingdom was finally conquered by the kingdom of Castille in the late 13th century. Niebla Castle

This museum presents about 2500 antiquities from pre-history, through the Byzantine and Roman empires, to the Middle Ages. It was founded in the 19th century by Demetrios Pierides and is the oldest private museum in Cyprus.  At the time it aimed to preserve Cypriot antiquities from being sent off the island by archaeological looters. The collection is housed in a colonial-style mansion dating from 1815. It has some interesting historical artefacts such as the 7000 years old "screaming man", ceramics from Attica, terracotta figurines, Byzantine and medieval ceramics. Opening hours : Mon.-Thu. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (1 p.m. Fri.-Sat.) Closed on Sundays. Entrance fee : €3

Évora Museum was inaugurated in 1804, by Friar Manuel Cenáculo, Archbishop of Évora, as a public library which also comprised part of his art, archaeological and natural collections. The Évora   Museum  collections currently contain around twenty thousand pieces, with the collections of Painting, Sculpture and Archaeology being outstanding .  One of the highlights of the Museum is the Flemish retable (pictured below). This retable was brought to Evora's Cathedral during major restoration carried out in late 15th century. The retable combines scenes from Christ's Passion with scenes depicting the life of the Virgin. The series has been attributed to Gerard Davis, a painter established in Bruges from 1484. This museum is quite surprising for the quantity and quality of artefacts displayed in a small city, so be sure to visit when in Evora. Opening hours : Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Entrance fee (standard): €3 How to go:  You c...

The castle of Larnaca was originally built to defend the southern coast of Cyprus as well as the port of Larnaca. It was later used as an arsenal, a prison and is currently a museum. It was during the Byzantine occupation, in the 12th century, that a small fortress was built close to the port. With the occupation of Famagusta by the Genovese, the city gained influence becoming one of the most important ports in Cyprus so, by the end of the 14th century, the fortress had to be enlarged, corresponding roughly to the building we see today. Opening hours : Mon. to Fri. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.(7.30 p.m. 16th Apr. to 15th Sep.); Sat. to Sun. 9.30a.m. to 5 p.m. Ticket (standard): €2.50

Ledra Street used to be the main commercial street in Cyprus but has been superseded by more accessible streets further south. Nevertheless, properties in this street are still largely destined for commercial use. It runs in a South to North direction and is about 1 km long, lying both in the Republic of Cyprus and in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. In 1963, following the outbreak of hostilities between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Ledra Street was one of the streets to be blockaded, thus dividing the city in two, and was effectively sealed after the Turkish army invasion of Cyprus in 1974. It was only reopened in 2008, becoming the sixth crossing between the southern and northern parts of Cyprus. Bring your passport if you want to cross to either side. The name of the street refers to the city-kingdom of Ledra, founded in 1050 BC, located where the city of Nicosia is today.

Saint Francis Church in Évora is best known for the gloomy Chapel of the Bones, one of the most famous monuments in Évora. The church was built in a Gothic style, with some Manueline influences, in the late 15th, early 16th centuries, replacing an earlier romanesque church. The main altar, from a later date, displays renaissance features. The day I visited the church was undergoing major restoration works. The gloomy Chapel of the Bones, located next to the main entrance of the church gets its name from its interior walls being covered and decorated with human bones and skulls. It was built in the 16th century by a Franciscan monk who wanted to pass the message of life being transitory or, as the entrance warning goes, "We bones, that are here, for yours await". Opening hours: 09:00 – 12:45 // 14:30 – 17:10 Sundays at 10:00 Entrance fee (standard): €2

Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom, not Saint Sophia) was once a church, then a mosque and is now a museum. Hagia Sophia was (re)built in 537 AD, by order of Emperor Justinian I and for 900 years was the centre of Orthodox Christianity- except between 1204 and 1261, when crusaders converted it into a Roman Catholic Cathedral. The previous two basilicas, built on top of a pagan temple, had been destroyed by rioters, the first in 404 AD and the second in 532 AD. More than 10,000 people worked in the construction of the Cathedral. The mosaics were finished later, during the reign of Emperor Justinian II (565-578). A succession of earthquakes resulted in the original dome collapsing completely in 558. Isidorus the Younger, nephew of one of the original architects (or "mechanikoi", as they were called) was responsible for rebuilding the dome, which is 55,6m high and has a diameter of 31,2m, making it the second largest in the world, after the Pantheon's dome. Hagia Sophia was the ...