Guests come to Noble House Essence Évora to explore the historic city on foot and stay in a building with a past of its own. Its foundations rest on Cerca Velha, Évora’s first city wall; the former noble residence later served as a school and has been a hotel since the 1920s. Roman masonry, seventeenth-century tile panels, old salons and vaulted ceilings keep that history in view. Breakfast brings Alentejo bread, local cheeses and cured meats, preserves and convent sweets to a brick-vaulted room and a terrace. The bar occupies the original seventeenth-century kitchen, retaining its stone benches, sink, chimney and period tiles. Évora Cathedral and the Roman Temple are a two-minute walk away.