Moliceiro Aveiro

... a corner store and 3- no one speaks English, and we mean NOBODY! We are adapting o.k. to the language barrier though. By the time we get home we be able to sign up for the grand championship of charades. The kids are doing really well and often suggest that we check our "porch- a- knees" (as Cohen calls it) book if we don't know a word. We even feel like rock stars here. I don't think the ...

On Thursday, April 2, I left Cincinnati on a Spring Festival visit to members in Portugal and the Portuguese islands. My first stop was in northern Portugal, just north of Porto, on Friday afternoon, April 3. That afternoon I had my first instance (of many in this trip) of struggling to find a particular place or people. There was a period of about five ...

It's to happen. We missed our train to Porto so we are waiting for the next one wich is at 6.17. That meas we will have to take a taxi to get to airport before 8 not to loose the plane. Hope that we won't have more things like that... Anyway, we are ready, we are packed leaving in 20 min.

Day 4 – 25/12/08

LISBON-EVORA-ALCOBACA-B ATALHA-FATIMA-COIMBRA

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 & we had a smooth drive to Evora. There we saw the Roman Temple, the church & the Chapel of St.Francis. The sleepy town had narrow lanes ...

... 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 ...

... 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.

Praegu elatub linn kolmest T-tähega allikast: tanning, textile, tourism ...

Portugali Veneetsia? Vähemalt nii seda kutsutakse, kuigi, olgem ausad, päris Veneetsia on ikka..Veneetsia :) Kuigi tõepoolest on seal mõni kanal, kuid see on ka ainuke paralleel Päris Kanalite linnaga. Aveiro oli vanasti üsna tähtis sadamalinn, kuid 1570ndatel kannatas ta suure tormi all, mis blokeeris jõesuudme, mistõttu laevad ei saanud enam ookeanini välja sõita. Järgmised ...

... and preferably just after a turn or something else that forces the cars to slow down), this way the drivers can see you at a distance and have a lot of time to react - the more time they have to think and the easier it is for them to stop, the more likely they are to steer from the standard action course of just driving by. The road I wanted to take began uphill and winding, though, so there was no visibility and no space for cars to stop. That meant I had to walk a lot ...

Well, those ski teamers at home know how much fun road tripping is. It was a breeze getting a van load to drive over 4,000 miles to California! But trying to convience 4 non-skiteam friends to rent a car with you and drive to Portugal for the sole purpose of wine tasting and a few good stories was a bit challenging! But.. I succeeded. After a typical Thursday night of discotecas and 100% no sleep I went straight to the car rental place and ...

... 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