Skulls and cross bones! No, I am not talking about pirate stories. This was the macabre and rather disturbing scene before me as I stood and peered into the Capela dos Ossos (Bone Chapel) in the sleepy town of Alcantarilha.

As I looked on in horror and fascination, hundreds of skulls stared back at me from the walls and ceiling of the small room found at the back of the main church in the town. The entire interior of the chapel is lined with the bones of over 1000 former parishioners. Disturbingly, when the local cemetery became too full, these bones were dug up and used to decorate the chapel .

A chill ran down my spine as I stood in the small doorway and I was reminded of the scene in Shakespeare´s Hamlet, when Hamlet and Horatio are digging up skulls in the graveyard. “To what base uses we may return,” states Hamlet, pondering the meaning of life. Surely not as interior decoration, one would hope! It would make for an interesting episode of Changing Rooms though!

The church bells began to chime out the hour, making me jump. I had seen enough and wandered out into the narrow, cobbled streets of Alcantarilha. In the sky, birds swooped and soared, returning frequently to their nests under the eaves of the old houses. A welcome reminder of life, after all that deathly décor!