Hotel Dom Luis 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>

... is used for rice paddies. Portugal seems to be a very fertile country (now we are out of that central plateau), much greener than Spain, with plenty of small-scale agriculture. During our stay at Fig Foz I faced one of the problems of a protracted stay abroad - having to go to the hairdresser's! In the past John has suffered some rather bizarre haircuts, due to language problems. In the end we solved ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

... there was a huge gap between our balcony doors and the floor which let the cold wind into our room. In Portugal, just like in Netherlands, they do not believe in central heating systems. Even though most of people suffer from rheumatism and cough, central heating is considered needless. Blankets, thick quilts and fireplaces are some of the local solutions for surviving winter in cold apartments. From the ...

... 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.

... maailmas! Ülikool on jagatud 8 teaduskonnaks, kus õpib ca 22 000 tudengit. Tudengi tunneb ära selle järgi, et nad kannavad riiete peal musta ürpi/keepi, mille peale tavaliselt õmmeldakse erinevaid embleeme (nt teaduskonna oma), mille järgi saab õpilase kohta nii mõndagi teada, ilma, et oleks temaga vestelnud.<br><br>Ülikoolil on mitmeid erinevaid hooneid ja need kõik asuvad mäe otsas, kust saab imetleda vaateid linnale. Kõige tuntum ja ühtlasi ka traditsionaalsem koht on ...

... lives in a student house and told the other people I was arriving. I was greeted by a Finnish couple, who had been guests for two days and decided to show me the house while the Portuguese people slept their hangovers away. It was a very big, very old and very chaotic house - lots of photos, writings and drawings from past occupants all over the walls, and about the people who live there now I'm not sure, there were sometimes a few, sometimes a lot ...

... fortuna mancano solo una decina di chilometri. Arriviamo a Figueira e siamo costretti a prendere il ponte. Per fortuna riusciamo a percorrere il percorso pedonale. Quel poco che vediamo di Figueira ci spinge a dirigerci il più in fretta possibile verso la stazione, in cerca di un treno per Coimbra. Arriviamo a Coimbra e ci dirigiamo verso l'Ostello, situato probabilmente nel punto più in alto della città. Ci arriviamo ...

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 ...