Tomar to Porto
We were up early, had breakfast, and were ready to shove off by 8:30. Yesterday, we'd lost the Gate 1 tour group, but now there was a big Globus tour group in the hotel. We really wanted to beat the buses out of the hotel, and we accomplished this handily.
This had been a great hotel and we were sorry to leave, but it was time to head to the big city of Porto now. Of course, we had a busy itinerary planned along the way. No point in just driving from Point A to Point B, is there? What's the challenge in that?
About 3k out of town we saw the turnoff to the aqueduct for the Convent do Christo. So that’s where it is! Why not have a little detour? Turns out, this was a great one. The aqueduct was in great shape and well-lit by the morning sunshine.
It was empty and we had the place to ourselves. After a few pictures, we saw that you could climb up on the structure…so of course, we did. What a spectacular view!
You can walk along the top of the aqueduct, along side of the water channel, and frankly it’s a little scary.
The “wall” which stands between you and a sheer drop off to the ground below is only up to your knees, the path about a foot wide, and the wind was gusting.But the pictures were worth it. You are really up there. Chris looks totally relaxed. I was holding on for dear life!
Back on terra firma, without falling over the edge, and without dropping a camera or a cell phone, we breathed a sigh of relief. In retrospect it had been a little crazy climbing up there, but it was fun now that it was over.
We drove to my favorite electronic-only toll road, and soon my toll balances were adding up again. This toll system is a little stressful!
We made it to Coimbra in good time, even though the route was kind of circuitous. The roads here were fairly complicated, and some had upper and lower levels. But we negotiated the route successfully thanks to Google.
We found parking in the lot I’d mapped out, put in a few hours worth of coins, and hit the ground running. We were in a nice location, just across the street from this pretty square.
We walked up to the city wall, through the main gate, and arrived at the Sé Vehla (Old Cathedral) just a few minutes before it opened at 10:00. Quite a fortress. Definitely not a Gothic style cathedral here.
There was time for a quick tour of the church and its cloisters. Pretty standard stuff, but more ornate inside than the exterior would suggest.
Having the cloisters within the cathedral reminded us of the Cathedral in Barcelona.
Time to climb further uphill to the University.
The University of Coimbra is known for several reasons – it’s the oldest university in Portugal, and the library there was supposedly an inspiration for Hogwarts. Also, the students wear robes just like they did in the Harry Potter novels.
We got to the library entrance at 10:20, and found that we couldn’t buy the tickets there – we had to go to the other end of campus. I ran for tickets while Chris got in line behind a tour group for the ladies’ room. Luckily, my line was better, and I got tickets for the 10:40 library tour.I waited for Chris in the nearly-empty Praça das Escolas, with an unobstructed view of the Paço Real as well. Better take advantage of that.
Back down to the library, where you could enter early and walk around the “student jail” before the library tour. Similar to the one we toured in Heidelberg - the university was responsible for student discipline, not the city. It seemed cleaner and didn't have the same character as that one.
Then we gathered and made our way up to the first floor, to the "modern" part of the library, where pictures are allowed.
It still looks old, and the stone arches were pretty. But nothing compares to the next floor.
It was a pretty spectacular place, but no pictures. The lower shelves are locked, with iron grates covering the books. Spectacular painting makes the wooden interior look like marble. And the artwork on the ceiling is colorful and detailed. It was really impressive. Good thing that lots of pictures are available online. They do move you in and out quickly. We probably had 10 minutes in the library.
We made a quick visit to the adjacent Capela de São Miguel for a few pictures.
Then on to the Via Latina, a covered walkway in front of the Paço Real. A nice place to pause for a photo. It was now a little after 11:00 and the crowds were starting to build. And the clouds too.
Next we took a wander through the main building, the former Royal Palace, to see a few exhibits about the university and its history.
Who knew that Universities need to have an Armory?
This room was interesting. It is an audience hall used now for PhD defenses. The poor candidate sits in that lonely chair underneath the chandelier. The examiners sit on the elevated platform in front of the candidate. And the benches are full of observers.
We liked the coat of arms for the school of medicine. So much ornate decoration here.
Now it was time to make our way out of the main square of the University, into the rest of Coimbra. We left by the Porta Férrea (Iron Gate).
From there we went for a quick stop at the science museum, which we hadn’t planned to visit, but since it was included on our ticket we felt obligated to check it out.
Small but nice for a few minutes. It's housed in a former Chemistry Lab. And, it really looked the part!
Back towards the University, there is a statue of its founder, King Dinis I. The university was founded in 1290, but moved to Coimbra in 1537. We also walked by the university stairs, but decided not to climb down there as they led in the opposite direction of our car.
Instead, we walked by the aqueduct, and into the University's botanical gardens for a little respite from the crowds.
Then a little slogging up and down hills, heading back all the way back to where we started. This is a stairway that we did take. Crazy steep! But the views along the way were pretty. Above is the Ponte Rainha Santa Isabel, spanning the river. Very nice.
We had about 30 minutes left on our parking ticket, so we sat down for a quick lunch. We chose a casual cafe where you order inside at the counter and they bring your food to the table. We had sandwiches, which came with a glass of wine. The grand total? €6.20. Insane! Mine was a bistec - a thin veal steak with sauce.We lingered over our cheap (but delicious) lunch until the last minute, then it was time to move on.
We drove through small mountain roads to the forest of Buçaco, but unfortunately it was cloudy and raining by now. The Palace Hotel and adjacent monastery looked pretty, even in the rain, so we walked around there a bit.
Key tip - there are public restrooms here. No pictures of those, though.
We took a brief hike in the Valley of the Ferns. There were indeed some ferns, but also lots of mud. And rain. So that was indeed quick.
Nearby there were lakes, and a fountain to check out. But the weather wasn’t conducive to a longer stay so after a climb partway up the fountain, we decided to head on to Porto, hoping for an early arrival.
Traffic wasn’t bad and we arrived in Porto ahead of schedule – only to find that the route which Google wanted to send me down was closed to vehicular traffic after 12:00 noon. I forced a reroute which was unfortunately much worse with regard to traffic, but we eventually made it to the parking garage.
Unfortunately, it was full, with cars waiting in the entrance trailing out into the street. So we drove the narrow streets some more and finally found a place to pull over and call the hotel for suggestions. Our hotel is in the historic quarter of Porto and you can't just drive there, because that part of the city is closed to vehicular traffic after 11AM. Easy enough if the close by parking garage has space, but a bit of a pain if it doesn't.
The hotel directed us to another garage just across the river, so I dropped Chris off at the top of the street with our luggage, and she went to the hotel to check in while I went to park. No problem there, found a spot, and headed back to meet Chris at the hotel which was only a 5-minute walk.
She had checked in, but unfortunately my backpack had fallen while she was carrying all of our lugage, and that was the end of the remaining JP wine - the bottle broke. And my backpack was soaked!At least the room has a gorgeous view from the balcony. No great loss on the wine.
We checked out the room, emptied my backpack, and set about washing everything. It took a while but we managed to get everything clean, and extricated the shattered bottle safely out of the backpack without cutting myself. Good thing we have two days here, so things can dry!
To get your bearings from the pictures above. We are on the north bank of the Douro, in the historic city center, right by the river. The bridge is Ponte Luis I, which has an upper level (visible) and a lower level (which I drove across to get to the garage, and walked back over to get to the hotel). The garage wasn't far; just where the bridge meets the far bank.
All cleaned up and settled in before 6:00, we made a dinner reservation for 7:30, and then set out to explore a little. We walked over the Ponte Luis I to try to go wine tasting, as a number of Quintas have tasting rooms on the far bank, but everything was closed up at 6:00 or earlier. One of the pitfalls of low season, I guess.
So we parked at an outside wine bar and had a drink while enjoying the view of the Douro River from the other side. Not a bad substitute, and we are effectively sampling a bunch of wines that way too. Now we just need to buy them.
Then it was time to head back for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner at Terreiro, at a prime table next to the lobster tank. They were eyeing us suspiciously, I thought.
We had clams and prawns for appetizers, along with a tasty bottle of Alvarinho. Add another bottle to the shopping list!
The grilled fish which we ordered for dinner was served family style. There were two large fillets of each fish, brought on a serving platter and served by our waiter with potatoes and vegetables. We each tried both varieties - sea bream, and black grouper. This is only half of our dinner porton. They do like big servings.
No room for dessert here! And I think that the lobsters were happy that we didn't order any of them for dinner.
It was raining as we walked home and it got heavier during the night. Time for some sleep! Tomorrow, we go visit a few sites north of Porto, and then try to see the city.
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