The town of learning

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So I am skipping a few days out of our trip because I didn't bring the right memory cards for pictures, but I will make another entry on them out of sequence because it really was a fantastic place! After departing Lisbon and our traveling mates, we headed up the coast and spent two nights in Peniche and one night in Obidos (to follow) then off to the university town of Coimbra. The university is the main 'industry' there and the whole city seems to revolve around it. It has been around since the 11th century and has a very prestigious reputation and long list of famous scholars. We booked in at the Hotel Oslo and got a bit of a deal with some fancy negotiating---We were parked out front and someone pulled up behind me so I went to pinch up a bit and give them more room. The desk clerk came running out thinking we were leaving and prompted to lower the price. I love discounts for just being nice. It was a nice enough place, but it had free wifi to get caught up on our blog (we made a few posting from there). There town is really quite cool. The university is at the top of a rise, overlooking a clean river. The only problem is we were at the bottom and everything was up. We walked many, many, many stairs there. We toured the university, checking out the library, lecture halls, and PhD defence rooms. A little more intimidating than Heather's was. All of the students in the university wear black cloaks and capes of various styles to designate their departments. We tried to catch some discreet photos of them but they didn't work out. We had great meals, including fish and meat---like every meal in Portugal! We splurged a little one night and hit up a fancy Brazilian place and had the best caiprinhas I have ever tasted. MMMMMMM. I had and good steak, but Heather ordered a wonderful shrimp/curry/plantains/salad dish. It was delicious!

Until next post.....

CC and HL

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