Residencial Jose Estavao Aveiro

... plastic bottles around the edges. They were obviously expecting stormy weather. They left great heaps of rubbish all over the site.

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.

We have become a novelty attraction as there are no other British around. After the activities of the weekend we moved on.

... they were hardcore). Good thing we opted for the boogie boards because once in the water, the waves were massive and the undertow was insanely strong. Our hostel was amazing and the owner was chill and helped us map out some cool surf and kite spots along the coast.

http://picasaweb.google.c om/Jonny.D.Lawrence/20091007Aveiro?auth key=Gv1sRgCOOE_tn74bSSKA&feat=direc tlink

... our books, playing on the beach, and playing board games instead of sightseeing. Next week we are renting a car to do some touring of Northern Portugal and are going to go into Porto for a couple of days to do some sightseeing. We'll be celebrating Caleb's 6th birthday next week Portugeuse style - whatever that means. Anyway, we best get going, our fans are going to wonder what happend to us!

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 ...

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 ...

... 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.

Ülikoolil on mitmeid erinevaid hooneid ja need kõik asuvad mäe otsas, kust saab imetleda vaateid linnale. Kõige tuntum ja ühtlasi ka traditsionaalsem koht on ...

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 ...

... St.John's day approaching, I decided to head north to be in Porto for the traditional party, but this time I took the bus, as it was raining again and I couldn't lose another day if I were to reach my destination in time and stop where I wanted to stop on my way there. As I said before, it is often unwise to hitch-hike with a time constraint, anyway. Figueira da Foz is a nice beach town, in a way it looks a bit like a half-undeveloped Copacabana. Even better because the ...

... with grapes only grown in this particular region of Portugal (due to climate and rock). Its way sweeter and more like a liquour. One museum was about all I could handle. We took the bus to the beach and ran around taking pictures. The water was freezing! I couldn't help myself and I was wearing a skirt so I decided to wade knee deep in the waves. The sunset was amazing. After the beach, we headed back to the river region and got lost ...

... 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