“Travels to a Different Time”: 14July2005 Coimbra, Portugal: Difficult Roundabouts!

After another long sleep jet lag has been defeated. I was up at 08:00 working on this diary and the rest of the gang up at 09:30. I read a description about the history of Quinta Lagrima where we are staying including the grisly murder of Innes de Castro and the revenge of her lover who tore out the hearts of her two murderers.  An excellent breakfast yet again but with white asparagus. Excellent yogurt topped with honey. After breakfast headed to the old convent Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova. A bit of a narrow if not treacherous road. The convent is somewhat barren and austere in some parts yet lush and luxurious in others. Unfortunately the batteries in our camera needed some recharging so we had to return to the hotel to recharge then back to the convent. There is some very detailed metal and woodwork. We skipped the military museum next store as it was closing.

We then drove to the University of Coimbra. We parked down below the hill where the university is located and walked up to the university. The path is of inlaid stone. The original university building sits in a beautiful courtyard with a tremendous view of Coimbra below. The chapel has walls of inlaid bluish tiles. Rushed back to car to avoid the meter expiring. We inserted more money and walked to the municipal market which was impressive but almost deserted. Then took a break at a local café where two lattes, two Sumols, two bottles of water and ice cream for about $9. Beverages at outdoor cafes are inexpensive in Portugal.

Next to the old town parking the car in an underground garage. Traffic in Coimbra is a killer with omnipresent traffic jams and difficult to navigate traffic roundabouts. Back to the Donald Duck restaurant we ate at last night “Restaurant Casino”. Mom and Pop were delighted to have us back. There was one couple finishing off their dinner when we arrived. Fotini had grilled chicken with outstanding fries. I had the octopus, Alex the arroz marisco and Andrew the swordfish steak. We stopped at the café in the art gallery for desert and returned to Quinta Lagrima.