Lourical

We visited the old city of Coimbra on our way to our next stop at an inland site near a town called Lourical.
Coimbra is the old capital Portugal prior to it being moved to Lisbon after the unifiication of the north and south. It houses Portugals most revered University which is located on a hill overlooking the city. There are two cathedrals - and old one and a new one which was built in the 17th century as well as a plethora of churces.
We flexed our muscles climbing to the top of the university campus prior to descending to have lunch at a nice tavera in a square below. We then reclimbed the hill to view the botanical gardens which is part of the university estate.
We arrived at our site in late afternoon and were welcomed by a charming dutch owner. The site was lovely set amongst pine tees and mimosas with geese and hens roaming around and with local produce on sale.
We drove nto Figueria da Foz the following day where there was a very good covered market where we stocked up. We then wandered along the beach to more sheltered beach at the next town where we lay in the sun for a couple of hours.
On our return to the site we were urged by the owner to change our pitch as he was concerned about weather warnings. Thankfully we took his advice - at 10.00pm for a period of about 15 minutes very stong winds came through. In the morning 73 trees on the site had been brought down including many if not all of the mimosas. Our previous pitch was covered in fallen branches and debris.
This site is a returnerRead more