Comfort Inn Almedina Coimbra Hotel

<br>Arrived after a short uneventful journey. Campsite similar. Weather changeable.<br><br>Tourist sites do not always live up to the flowery language used in the brochures eg. "Musicological Nucleus of the Salt" turned out to be a Musee de Sel. We did not go.<br> <br>The local beauty spots, like every where else, that we did go to were covered with ingrained litter.<br>We are moving on tomorrow. <br>

We arrived without incident after a short and pleasant journey. Odd campsite mainly permanent encampments! Most of them looked like they had been there for many years. We were entertained by families arriving over the weekend to pack up for the winter. They cleared out all the rubbish that they had accumulated over the summer. They then covered their caravan.awning and covered area with tarpaulin and tied it down and put stones ...

... ended up with a reasonable, if alarmingly short, hairstyle. And it only cost 21 euros. With a bit of luck it won't need doing again until I'm back in England! We've enjoyed our stay here - nice campsite, nice scenery and nice weather. We're about to move on to Porto, and rain is forecast again! If we have wet weather there we'll just have to take shelter in the numerous port wine lodges and drown our sorrows!

Day 4 &#8211; 25/12/08<br><br>LISBON-EVORA-ALCOBACA-B ATALHA-FATIMA-COIMBRA<br><br>We left early after breakfast. The GPS proved to be blessing for 'wrong' drivers like me. As it was Christmas there was less traffic on the roads &amp; we had a smooth drive to Evora. There we saw the Roman Temple, the church &amp; the Chapel of St.Francis. The sleepy town had narrow lanes ...

... tänaseni näha mosaiikpõrandaid ning mitmete ehitiste vundamente. Osad nendest on nüüdseks saanud algse kuju, ehk siis vundament on originaal, kuid peale ehitatud osa on valgest kivist, et välja tuua kontrast kuipalju alustaladest on säilinud. Vanasti elati väga-väga suurejooneliselt, saime jälle kinnituse. Kindlasti tasub seal ära käia, sissepääs on kõigest 3&#8364;, mis sisaldab varemete ja muuseumi külastust.

Coimbra (120 km Portost) asutati roomlaste poolt, seejärel linn kasvas ja arenes moorlaste käe all, peale neid elasid seal kristlased. 1145. a sai Coimbrast Portugali pealinn, kuid juba sajand hiljem otsustas Afonso III, et ta eelistab pealinnana näha Lissaboni.<br><br>Coimbra on eelkõige tuntud oma ülikooli poolest, mis 1290.a asutati (esimese ülikoolina Euroopas) küll Lissabonis, kuid 1537.a kolis Coimbrasse ja on seal tänaseni. Ülikool on üks vanimaid nii Euroopas kui üldse ...

... they say, after Bologna. We took a bus this time and got to see the city centers instead of the train stations on the outskirts. We stopped through Leira, Fatima, and Santarem on our way south to Evora, where I´m writing now. More on that later. We´re catching another bus to the Algarve region, Portugal´s southern coast. We´ve had temparature in the 70´s until just yesterday. Wouldn´t you know when we head to the beach for a couple days, it turns cold.

... walked around all day. Winding street, staircases, churches hidden in little squares. Quite cute. Found a nice little restaurant for lunch and had Bacalhau e/nates, pao, and vinho casa. It was so yummy. Cod and potatoes in a cream sauce, with bread, and white house wine. Cafes everywhere in every alley way. 31C today when I checked. Nuts, it didnt feel that hot. So I am off to Leiria tomorrow morning. Sounds like a cool place. Write more later!!

... Pochi chilometri nel bosco e lo troviamo. E' bello e particolare, con la sua spiaggia di sabbia e i pontili di legno, ci ripaga delle durezze del fondo stradale. Riprendiamo la strada nel bosco, per dirigerci verso Figueira da Foz. In alcuni punti la strada nel bosco è bellissima. Occhio ai bivi, chiedete spesso. Incrociamo la strada nazionale, chiediamo più volte se esiste un percorso alternativa, ma senza successo ...

... a friend, and on the bus we met two nursing students who live there. They were very friendly, took us to their house, fed us dinner, and gave us a place to sleep. <br><br>Now I'm in Coimbra, and I came here to see a forest. I should actually be going now to catch my bus. If this internet connection weren't so slow this letter would be longer. It took me a whole hour to read the 15 letters I had (50 minutes waiting, 10 minutes reading). More later