Tryp Coimbra Hotel

<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 ...

... 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 &amp; was lit up well. There was some Christmas ceremony going on inside.<br><br>Finally, we drove to Hotel Oslo in the University town of Coimbra. More than half ...

... avec quelques cafes et restaurant pour se reposer a l'ombre! 3- S'assoeir apres le lunch dans une des nombreuses chapelles de la ville et y faire une sieste!! 4- L'enchevetrement de nombreuses ruelles abritant une foule de boutiques dans la baixa ou la basse ville!! 5- Les nombreuses rues pietonnes en paves!!!

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

... the entrance to the Moorish medina. We are now in the city centre, and a handsome city it is too. We notice numerous groups of students doing stupid things in public, and we are told they must make fools of themselves as penance for being freshmen. Two students in cap and gown are swinging from a beam across the alley. Hopefully they are mannequins. We wander on the pedestrian streets and admire the shops ...

... dawned on us the other night as we watched a young girl, with the beginnings of a huge rack and rear, tuck into her dinner.....everything on her plate was yellow! Apart from meat (and lots of it) the Portuguese diet seems to be all yellow. Cheese, custard tarts, tortillas, eggs, everything in the pastelleria, beers, batatas fritas (potato chips), even the bread has a yellow tinge. Maybe there is a connection somewhere?! Anyway onto our travels ...

... 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. <br><br>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