----- Coimbra -----
Monday, October 1
We arrived at the Oriente train station only to find the railroad workers were on strike! We had purchased our tickets online but our train was cancelled, as well as every other train that day, except for one.
Luckily, at the last minute, someone told us we should get on that train and go! It was the only train from Lisbon that day that would stop in Coimbra. On a normal day there would have been ten or more.
We found some seats and happily got to Coimbra in mid-afternoon, ahead of the time we would have gotten there if we had been able to catch our scheduled train!
Selfie on a train.
We checked into the Hotel Astoria, pictured above.
We had rooms overlooking the town which would be to the right of this photo of the hotel.
We had "junior suites" which meant that we had a sitting area as well as a bedroom and bathroom.
This is the view from our hotel room window.
The main drag in Coimbra
The road up to the University
First order of business: refreshments!
We then trekked up the narrow streets toward the University.
Coimbra is the site of Portugal's oldest and most respected university "Velha Universidad", founded in 1290.
You will see students dressed in black suits with black capes adorned with patches indicating courses of study or class status. It reminded us of how one might dress at Hogwarts!
Video of these students singing!
The Machado de Castro Museum and the "New" Cathedral.
The University
The University Courtyard
Looking down over town and the Mondego River
Paver pattern in the Courtyard.
Reminded me of the Tobin James Winery logo.
We stopped at a tiny little cafe for a beer.
Not sure what this sculpture means.
Neither is Lorri. A woman morphing to a guitarra? Or vice-versa? maybe something to do with Fado.
An unusual looking mailbox.
As the sun starts to go down...
The lights come on
The 12th century Igreja de São Tiago
I wonder how they knew what it looked like at the end of the 12th Century.
Night time in Coimbra
The view from our room
The other view from our room.
This guy was playing some pretty good accordion tunes (if there are such things) with his little Chihuahua sitting contentedly on top of it. Except occasionally, something would excite the dog and it would yap away, while the accordion player played on, unperturbed. His expression never changed. Hilarious.
In the morning we went for a walk along the river.
It was a nice sunny day and autumn was in the air.
Maybe it was a little breezy
We crossed the river at the pedestrian bridge. This is the view back toward town from the bridge.
The University sits at the top of the hill
Largo da Portagem. Our hotel was to the left.
One last Coimbra street scene and it was off to Porto!
