Costa De Prata Ii Hotel Figueira da Foz

... in fact, and the library has a unique means of controlling them - a colony of bats live in the building and come out at night to feed. The librarian has to cover the tables with cloths before closing, and removes them next morning, to protect the ancient wood from bat poo! Like all old uni's it has its own bizarre customs. Instead of halls of residence the students live in communal houses called ...

We had our longest journey -should have been 7 hrs but turned out to be 10 after the highway was closed. We had lunch in Salamanca and I want to go back. Superb architecture and one of the oldest universities in Europe with signs of enlightened learning on every corner. We shared an amazing dinner of local fare ...

... And boy, we are glad we did not miss it. The Igreja da Santissima Trindade (Church of the Holy Trinity) here could easily be compared to the Vatican in Rome. It was simply awesome with huge grounds in the front & was lit up well. There was some Christmas ceremony going on inside.

Finally, we drove to Hotel Oslo in the University town of Coimbra. More than half ...

... of Coimbra dates back to 1930 and is among Europe's oldest and most prestigious schools. It was truly a pleasure to walk its ancient halls every day and see its historic fountains ornamented with azulejos (famous porcelain tiles). Unfortunately I didn't make it to any of Coimbra's popular student festivals, Festa das Latas (The Tin Can Parade) that takes place in the beginning of scholar year and Queima ...

... Of course I saw the whole city as well, the university has a massive ornate library (so massive that it has its own colony of bats that somehow keep the books clean!) and there are many parks and a nice riverfront area. The festival was CRAZY, I have never seen so many young (and I mean young, some under 16!!) people drinking...in the streets...until 8 in the morning! And they all wear ...

... and then headed home. After changing, we went to dinner at a hot spot for seafood in Figueira where we ate till we dropped. At the pier after dinner, we went on multiple rides, including bumper cars, and roller coaster. Luckily, even though everyone was stuffed, and the movement was not the best idea, no "incident" occured. Then, we walked to Emanha for gelato's, where Sofia insisted ...

... keltide ajal. Roomlased seadsid ennast sisse 1. saj pKr, mil see kasvas ja õitses suureks linnaks. 3. saj olid elanikud ohustatud sissetungijate eest ning ehitasid enda kaitseks linnale kaitsvad müürid ümber. Kahjuks polnud see piisav sueevidele (germaani hõimude rühmale), kellel õnnestus 468.a vallutada linn. Kohalikud põgenesid Coimbrasse, säästes sellega Conímbrigat suuremast hävingust. Seetõttu võib ...

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.

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 ...

Sup Beautiful People! Alright left Porto with a grand plan, we just picked out a spot on the map and it ended up being this place called Figueira da Foz but i couldnt remember that so i renamed the joint to Franz Ferdinand, sure much disrespect to the locals culture and history, but they cant understand what im on about anyway. Franz Ferdinand rocks! So our lifes here were based around this little hostel called "The Paintshop". It was kinda like a ...

... 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.

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