In Beja, one cannot miss the Convento da Nossa Senhora da Conceição. It is said that during the 15th century, a nun, gazing from the convent window, saw a French officer and immediately fell in love with him. They met, and a brief affair resulted until the time he left Beja.
Grief-stricken, the nun wrote him five desperate letters begging him to return although there has never been any evidence to show that he did. These passionate letters would later be transcribed in French and published as "Lettres Portugaises," gaining them international and long-lasting fame. In as recent as 2001, the letters were transformed into a stage play, "Cartas" and performed in New York in the Bleecker Theatre’s Culture Project in 2001.
