Coimbra, Portugal!!! Impossible to leave!
Trip Start
Aug 14, 2008
1
21
24
Trip End
Ongoing
Okay, so I definitely did not expect to stay in Coimbra for more than one night, it is a very small city totally centered around a very old, very beautiful university and should only take a day or two to see. Got in on the train from Oporto at night and was floored by the massive hills. My pack has gotten a bit heavier since I started, close to 30 lbs, so I was not too keen on walking to the hostel which is out of the city centre. Long and short of it, took me well over an hour with lots of walking up hills and asking for directions to find the hostel. Made friends with some Portuguese people from the hostel and we shared a meal almost everynight, great nights of amazing homecooked meals usually ending with a guitar being brought out and singing a bunch of American classic rock and folk. They told me about a student festival that was happening at the end of the week and next thing I know Ive booked a room for a whole week! It was really nice, was able to catch up on laundry, reading, writing, reorganzing my pack (left a couple pounds of clothes at the hostel, they would never be clean again!) and even saw a really bad American movie at the theater, Tempeste Tropical!!! Of course I saw the whole city as well, the university has a massive ornate library (so massive that it has its own colony of bats that somehow keep the books clean!) and there are many parks and a nice riverfront area. The festival was CRAZY, I have never seen so many young (and I mean young, some under 16!!) people drinking...in the streets...until 8 in the morning! And they all wear these huge black capes, part of their school uniforms. Looked like a bunch of drunk extras from a really bad vampire movie! I didnt stay out that long but a guy from the hostel and I had a couple capirihnas (my first time) and saw some live music, twas fun. So I sadly had to pry myself from Coimbra, said my very sad goodbyes to my friends from the hostel and hopped a bus to Lisboa. Chiao Coimbra!
