We have a day on the bus today, with a few stops on the way to our final destination, Lisbon. The bus departs at 8.30 am, and our first sightseeing stop is at Coimbra.
Coimbra is the site of one of Europe's oldest Universities. The main campus is located high on a hill at the top of the town, occupying the buildings of the former Royal Palace. The permanent population of the town , of around 180,000 is expanded by 22,000 students of which around 15% are International students.
The bus took us for a ride up the hill to the campus, and we will walk back down to the riverside through the narrow streets.
The Humanities Faculty
The library which houses some of the oldest books in Portugal
The library is an addition to the old Palace buildings, but is very old in it's own right. It houses a collection of 16th to 18th century books, which can still be accessed on request by students for research. Most are written in Latin. Not photos were allowed in the library. We are told that there is a permanent population of bats in the library that keep the insect population from damaging the books. Each night the attendants cover all flat surfaces with leather covers to prevent damage from bat excrement.
There is also a chapel, St Miguel's Chapel, (St Michael is the patron saint of Portugal),
which we were allowed to visit and photograph. It has some ornate ceramic tile work, and a unique organ. The church organs in Portugal are a bit different in that they have both vertical and horizontal pipes.
The organ
We walked back down to the town centre through an old Moorish area, down steep stairways, one of which is affectionately called "Backbreak Road". Legend has it that a student that has not fallen down this stairway is unlikely to graduate.
We soon found ourselves back in the main street.
We did a little shopping, with about half an hour of free time to have a look around, before we were back on the bus and on our way to lunch at Pombal.
Our lunch destination is described as "Granny's Truck Stop", it is apparently an institution they have been going to for years, and the food is supposed to be very good home cooked fare (and plenty of it).
When we arrived it was a bit bigger than we expected, and it was packed, but like everything else on this tour, we walked in , sat down and received immediate service.
Granny (the owner) put in a personal appearance. She is now 85 and apparently still supervises everything personally.
She is not very tall !!
After a very satisfying meal, we are back in the bus and on our way to Fatima. Around 4 million people a year visit Fatima, the site of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, sighted by 3 shepherd children in 1917. It has grown into an enormous tourist attraction.
There is a huge square in front of the main Basilica which is expected to be full when the Poe comes later this year
A service was being conducted in a small, open chapel
Pilgrims crawl down this long limestone path on their knees to the Basilica
The temperature is in the high 30's and this young boy is still going
Even the administration buildings are impressive.
There are some cork oak trees in the surrounding gardens, that are pointed out by our guide.
You can see where the bark has been previously harvested on the bottom of the photo
It is very hot and everyone is glad to be back on the bus. On the way out of town we passed a monument to the three young shepherds who claim to have seen the apparition.
This our last sightseeing stop for the day and we expect to be in Lisbon by 6pm. We arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel just before 6pm, after our driver took us for a short tour past a few of the Lisbon sights. The hotel is very nice and is located a little away from the main city area but looking down the main avenue towards the city centre.
The live orchid display in the main foyer is quite impressive
After a short rest in our room we wandered out to get some exercise and find somewhere to have dinner. We stayed within a km or two of the hotel, and at 7.30pm, all restaurants were empty. So we walked on further and found a nice little park with a newstand/cafe building in the middle which served drinks and snacks.
We sat down for a few drinks and enjoyed the shade and nice breeze that was passing through.
At around 8.15pm we wandered back up the street and found the restaurants were filling up. We felt like having something different, so chose a Nepalese Restaurant, Everest Monthana. We were hoping for a bit of spicy Indian style food, but it had been tamed down for the locals. It was OK but not great. The whole 10 members of the Philippine family in our tour group also selected the same restaurant.
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