Coimbra- Velha Universidade

Coimbra was great but wet! A fantastic old university town with centuries of history and a magnificent botanic gardens. Overnite the football celebrations continued til at least 4am and I had a great view of the fans and Coimbra Prison from my bedroom balcony. After breakfast it was time to wander! Housed in the Royal Palace, Biblioteca Joanina was built in 1717 by Dom Jao V ( looks like Henry V111) Containing 200,000 books dating back to the 12th century it is awe inspiring. Baroque in style with frescoed ceilings and fantastically carved wood panelling. St Michael’s Chapel organ is massive and seems to hang from the wall. The Main Hall in the Royal Palace is like Hogwarts dining room. Reckon the whole place inspired JK Rowling. The Se cathedral and cloisters were beautiful. Tiles are everywhere and I particularly like the 13th century image of angry sheep!! A pity it was too damp to spend hours in the gardens. Caught the train to Porto, met a nice American with a rescue dog Fina, which bit me !! So I finally get to use a bit of my medical kit and am sitting back in my hotel thinking about the next leg of the trip… ‘singing in the rain’.Read more