We arrived in Coimbra from the Douro Valley Thursday afternoon. Mike's amazing driving skills nearly caused an international incident, but we arrived safely at our hotel in one piece.
Coimbra is a university town of roughly 140,000 and hosts one of the oldest universities in Europe, established in 1290. It was classified as a World heritage site by UNESCO.
Upon our arrival to Coimbra Thursday afternoon, we decided that we were tired of turning our shirts and socks inside-out and desperately needed to do laundry. We found a local laundromat and within a few hours had fresh, clean clothes for the next week or so. Once we returned to the hotel, we had a nice glass of wine on the patio and took in the scenery. That evening we cut some costs and ate some of the bread, meat and cheese purchased in Pinhao for dinner. That evening we caught up on the latest season of Cobra Kai on Netflix!!
On Friday, we began the day with breakfast at our hotel restaurant. We decided to spend the morning and early afternoon driving to the ancient Roman ruins at Conimbriga, which was about 20 minutes south of town. Upon our arrival, Mike's inner history nerd took over, much to Katie's chagrin!! The ruins date back to well before the time of Caesar Augustus (200-800 BC) and are the most famous and impressive Roman ruins in Portugal. They were classified as a national monument in 1910 by the Portuguese government. Afterwards, on the way back to town, we decided to drive to the aforementioned University of Coimbra. What an amazing setting for one of the world's oldest universities. Also on campus was the Cathedral of Coimbra which was an impressive piece of architecture.
After returning to the hotel room in the late afternoon, we took a short rest and later went to dinner at the Restaurante Nacional where we ate a delicious platter of seafood paella. AMAZING! Once we were finished with dinner, we decided to visit oldtown Coimbra to check out what was happening. The streets were lined with locals and tourists who were busy shopping and visiting with friends and family at the restaurants and cafes which lined the narrow streets. Much to our surprise, there was Renaissance festival going on and we had a blast checking out all of the medieval-themed booths and the locals dressed in Renaissance garb. The highlight of the evening was watching and singing along to a local musician who played guitar and sang much to the delight of the entertained tourists (see pictures).
Today (Saturday) we are off to see some fellow Washington state acquaintances for lunch as we travel to our next stop, Nazare on the north central coast of Portugal. Oh, and just a heads up, Mike's computer has been acting up, so our next post might be a bit delayed (we shall see!!)
Until next time, adeus!!
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