Coimbra

The train trip took 2 hours heading north to Coimbra, a small university town. It was only half a day here and already we have fallen in love with the city. We visited the old church built in the 12th century and updated through the 15th century with tile and art with Moorish and Spanish influences. It was clearly well taken care of and revered as it was in quite good shape for such an old building. The new church (although also very, very old by North American standards) was beautiful, but churches give me the creeps sometimes. All those depictions of a dead guy hanging from a cross by nails in his hands and feet plus the absolute misery imposed by the Catholic Church on people all over the world and in Europe. I can feel it in the walls of them.

We are staying in an Airbnb situated on a narrow pedestrian street. Everything from here is either up or down a long flight of stairs along corridors packed with little shops or quiet residences. The colours and balconies dressed with hanging laundry make is feel like a real city as opposed to a tourist town.

The university makes for lots of political graffiti and students yelling, carousing and even barfing in the streets. I’m thankful for the vibrancy but the roving drunk lads, not so much.

We have eaten quite well on this trip sharing great wine and traditional Portuguese foods. So far I have had goat, chicken, beef, lamb, grouper and several amazing vegetarian meals. The food has been great and the service has been very friendly. Even with my knowledge of Spanish, the menu items are usually a mystery. Portuguese is a close cousin of Spanish so I can often read the signs at museums and historical markers but I still miss a lot.

Tomorrow we have another day in this incredible town to explore more…Okumaya devam et