Hotel Braganca Coimbra

<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>

... plastic bottles around the edges. They were obviously expecting stormy weather. They left great heaps of rubbish all over the site.<br><br>We visited Aveiro the nearest town which lived up to its publicity we took the one photograph of their famous boats which was all the brochure had to offer.<br><br>We have become a novelty attraction as there are no other British around. After the activities of the weekend we moved on.<br><br>

... hairdresser, or indeed an actual English one, like the lovely Kenneth in Marbella. I realised that this is not likely to happen in northern Portugal or Spain, so I bit the bullet and made an appointment at a hairdresser in the local shopping centre. I can manage maybe a dozen words of Portuguese, none of them hair-related, and her English was pretty limited too, but between us we managed to communicate and ...

... enough just to fit a car.<br><br>We then drove back west to Alcobaca. The Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria was closed, but beautiful enough from the outside. Even at Batalha the Monastery was closed but the square around, was beautiful for a short rest stop. Tired by then we thought of dropping Fatima, but decided to drive up, as it was not far from our ...

16 km kaugusel Coimbrast asuvad Conímbriga varemed, mis on vanimad nii hästi säilinud Rooma varemed Portugalis, ühtlasi nimetatakse seda ka National Monument. Varemete kohta saab ajaloo ja piltidega tutvuda ka muuseumis, kuid me saabusime sinna suhteliselt hilja ja jõudsime napilt ainult varemetes luusida. Kuigi Conímbrigat teatakse eekõige roomlaste tõttu, on tegelikult olemas ka andmeid, et seal tegutseti ...

... sajandi kellatorn, mida kutsutakse a cabra (kits), sest igal aastal toimub seal esmakursuslaste rebasteks ristimine. Ristimine ei seisne mitte füüsilises, vaid vaimses piinamises. Noored tudengid reastatakse kellatorni juurde üles ja seejärel hakkavad vanemad kursuslased neid sõnadega mõnitama ja alandama seni, kuni ristitavad panevad padavai kodu poole jooksu, ehk siis nagu kitsed kabuhirmus.<br><br>Praegu elatub linn kolmest T-tähega allikast: tanning, textile, tourism ...

... the 9 am bus to Conimbriga, the Roman ruins just outside of town. Deanne was fine. Maybe because I downed half of her absynthe? The ruins were much larger than we anticipated and well preserved. We just had to dodge the hoards of portugues junior high kids. They had a nice museum with jewelry, weapons, and domestic items. Later we wondered around some more and had another incredible meal of fresh fish and another one with pork and garbanzo ...

... a good city that way. People are all friendly, and the men totally ignore you. Another world from Porto in that sense. So today, I was off to explore. Not really many sights in the city. Lots of churches, and the oldest university in Portugal. Libraby was amazing! 30,000 books on display in this amazing building built in 1728. All the book are from 16/17 century and mostly Latin. Donated from monasteries, the Jesuits collection when they were ...

... Sitio andiamo verso Praça dos touros e chiedendo ripetutamente informazioni riusciamo ad imboccare una bellissima strada nel bosco, poco distante dal mare. In dieci minuti siamo passati dal frastuono insopportabile della nazionale al silenzio quasi assoluto della natura. E' molto importante chiedere spesso, per non perdersi, ci sono un paio di migliaia di bivi che aiutano a sbagliare e purtroppo lo stato dell'asfalto ...

Hello...<br><br>I'm in Portugal now. Last I wrote was in Toledo, I think...I took a night train to Lisbon, where I stayed for one night. It's nice, as far as big cities go, but it's a big city. It's very diverse and the people are real laid back. <br><br>After that I went to Sintra, just west of Lisbon. It's a little town in the mountains. Lots of shade, green, and fresh air. I spent many more days there than I planned to. The first night I arrived ...