May 23

Day 9

Coimbra/Alburgaria de Velha

Coimbra is a city to be explored so we stayed all day and took in a breath of much needed relaxation. I could live at our hostel. So old yet modern. Typical European comfort. We sleep in til 6:30am then enjoy a provided continental breakfast downstairs while our clothes are being washed. There is something so delicious about the coffee here. It’s the best ever and I could drink 10 cups!  

       We explore the city today and Mimi is somewhat our tour guide. She had a brief tour yesterday by a young Portuguese guy she had met so she was well versed in the cliff note of the city tour.  

      Until 1355 Coimbra was capital of Portugal. From 711-1130 it was a fortified Muslim town and before that was a Roman city hence all of the Roman ruins. In 2013 Coimbra was named a UNESCO World Heritage site. That’s it in a nutshell. 

     The first place we visit is the “new” Cathedral. It is ancient but newer than the old Cathedral. All of the gold in this church comes from Brazil. Interesting to us as we learned in Spain most of the gold in the churches came from the Incas in Peru. Just doesn’t seem right!

     Coimbra is a college town with over 20,000 students. It is the oldest university in the country and was founded on March 1,1290.....yes 1290! by royal charter of King Dinis. The University has a 5 star European rating and a school of every Major you can imagine. 

     In the center of the school is a huge garden park.  It has several tiers of trees and vegetation from all over the world. The Eucalyptus trees are bigger than one can imagine and several varieties. The fountains and ponds, greenhouses and walking paths are just gorgeous.  As we start to leave the gardens we pass under a huge Roman Aquaduct and see a group of very young school children on a field trip.  They are dressed in the most adorable blue and white checkered smocks and red hats. One child holds on to the teachers Long scarf slowing down her back. It’s just as precious as can be and right out of a children’s book.  

     Our next place of interest is the famous Bibliotheca or as we call it, Library. We have to purchase tickets to see it and are scheduled for a 12:40pm viewing. It is the oldest Library in the country of Portugal and upon entering it is right out of the Harry Potter movies. Huge, ancient and immaculate. Books are organized all the way to the tall ceilings and their are rolling ladders for access.  The ceilings are hand-painted gorgeous colors and a baby grand piano stands at one end. We are forbidden to take any photos at all even without a flash. 

With our ticket we have access to several different areas of the Bibliotheca and it’s size is like a Palace. So many beautiful hand painted Portuguese tiles, paintings and a church.  

    Our last visit is to the “old” Cathedral which is right out of our hostel doors. We could open our large windows last night and see it right there! The pictures I took definitely don’t do it justice.  We kneel and pray and take in every moment we have to experience this treasure. 

     As we leave our hostel with clean clothes and backpacks on we walk down many sets of stairs. The city is so hilly that stairs up and down are at every angle. We counted 145 stairs down this morning to get to the garden area alone. I’ve got my backpack on, carry my poles and a bag with cereal and bread. We bought Special K at the market yesterday but ended up not eating it this morning so I’m tagging it along with us. I have this fear now of being hungry in the mornings!

    Michael and Mimi want to eat Leitoes before we leave and they have a restaurant in mind they had eaten at yesterday. Leitoes is suckling pig and a very famous dish here.  We are somewhat skeptical but decide to be adventuresome and try it. It’s absolutely delicious. It’s kind of like the pig cheeks we ate in Tomar..... tastes like Mom’s pot roast. 

    Afterward we hike to the city bus stop and get on a bus to Alburgaria de Velha where we’ve learned Richard and Lorenz should be staying. They had gotten in touch with us and advised us to move forward as tomorrow’s hike is 80% roadways. That is no fun at all and dangerous. I had also gotten a message from Dave and Kelsa that they opted to train ahead to Porto and continue with the coastal route. I was so looking forward to hearing them play their ukuleles. Maybe our paths will cross again. The ride takes an hour when we arrive our hostel is not far away.  As soon as we walk in the doors we see Lorenz and Richard. We all hug like long lost friends. We are the only ones staying at this hostel tonight. After a dinner of Pizza we sit outside and visit about our experiences. Richard has been reading a Camino book and he asks us the question: 

   “If today you knew you were going to die, would you be ok with how you lived your last 5 days?”  We end the evening with great discussion.  The Camino gets us all to think about things like this. It makes us think about how we are living our lives. What’s your answer to Richards question?

Nitey nite!