http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Portugal , Central , Coimbra en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:54:12 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:54:12 +0000 Coimbra September 1415From Salamanca we caught another bus to Portugal where we were staying in the Portugese university town of Coimbra. Our accommodation had a terrace on the roof that looked out over Coimbra affording great views of the houses and university that was built into hillside. The streets were hilly in parts but this is the norm in so many towns that I think I will miss my daily http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-442295.html Photographs from our day trip to Coimbra from Porto Portugal 29th March 2009. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-387999.html My travels with Lara took us on from Spain to Portugal and the university town of Coimbra. The university itself is mingled with the narrow streets of the old town up on a hill above the Mondego river. Some of the buildings reminded us a lot of home http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-363491.html Coimbra as I soon found out was originally the capital of Portugal in the 12th century the first dynasty. As I explore the area more I found that there was an incredible amount of history related to this town. For example it was a major trading area for the christians in the north and the muslims in the south. The city was the capital from roughly 1250 to 1255 A.D. As I learned about the history http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-360733.html Following my parentrsquos path I decided to choose Portugal for my scholarship. I applied to the famous in Portugal University of Coimbra and after four weeks of submitting my application I was a happy winner of the Socrates Erasmus scholarship. Even though itrsquos been long years since this experience I still miss this worryfree time of my life.I have to admit I was lucky. I arrived to C http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-352521.html I am now in Portugal currently we are in the University town of Coimbra . The university has a really long history and is set in the old town. We went out to see the Roman ruins in a nearby town this morning. It is still very cold and wet here. Hopefully as we head further south it will start to warm up again. Hope that everyone made lots of money on the cup today sounds like it was a good ra http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-341622.html Lousa What a darling town loved it.You must stay at Casa Da Maria which is a renovated chateau that is almost 300 years old. Here are some photo's httprentals.expatsportugal.comindex.phpactionlistingviewlistingID132northcentralportugal.net http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-334248.html Today was our second full day in Portugal. Our last morning in Salamanca I had a final serving of churros and chocolate they really are as good as I had imagined and then found our way out of the city thanks to Samrsquos careful planning which involved a walkthrough from the parking garage back to the hotel.The drive out of Salamanca led us through changing landscapes and crops. We passe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-328890.html Day 8 ConimbrigaAnd on the sixth day God created man. On the seventh day he rested Well God is lazy SOB On the sixth day I went to Coimbra...by foot...and on the seventh day we went to Conimbriga.This historical site is the best preserved Roman site in Portugal. They are still excavating the site and only uncovered a staggering 12ha The story of Conimbriga starts withe the threat of the Suevi. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-324641.html Day 7 CoimbraWaking up with a soar throat...dry mouth...and a gentle heart throbbing head...we ventured into the city.First up was the Convento de SantaClaraaVelha. Unfortunately closed to public due to renovation works it still is worth the visit. Afterwards we went to the Quintas de Lagrimas were the tragedy of Dom Pedro e Dona Ines took place.IntermezzoLike the story of Romeo en Juliette http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-324628.html Day 6 Aveiro CoimbraThis time round we did get up early enough to do something productive in the morning....early bird catch the wormTaking the train to Aveiro was the original plan but once in Aveiro we saw that there wasn't much for a show for us to see. Nevertheless did we spend a couple of hours there because of it's famous pastry Ovos Moles. This small....tiny piece of pastry is lik http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-324626.html Look up a little and the brilliant sky blues sunwhitened walls meet in the faroff haze of the hills. Surrounding you. Shadows throw across the old old buildings and older land.Slowing your heart mind as you happily wander the alleys and squares.Welcome to Coimbra.We got here Travelling by train. It's where old new Portugal meet. The coaches are largely modern roomy but the stations were http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-313577.html 16th July. Bye bye Lisbon hello Coimbra. As I did my final packing just after 0900 I was conflicted in my feelings. On the one hand I was relieved to be leaving Lisbon where Irsquod had an extended forced stay due to illness. On the other there was some trepidation at facing the unknown. Will the bus station at Coimbra be near where the pensions are located and secondly will there be reasonabl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-300977.html Picture catchup in CoimbraSorry for the terrible picture qualityAll through my trip I looked in vain for an Internet cafe that had USB upload capability to grab pictures from my camera on which the whole travel blog idea hinged for me at leastnaturally I could have just entered unadorned text. I pretty much stopped taking any pictures at all. This accounts for the very fragmentary cov http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-272476.html We drove 3 hours or so into Portugal and made day trips from our bb To roman ruins to the beach and to the forested grounds of a former monastery. The bb was run by a dutch ex patriate family. There was a great pool friendly guests a giant chess set and kayaks to take out. We also learned that a cot is something else to the Dutch. I picture a foldout bed for hardy souls like soldier http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-190636.html And... we're off But first a few last pictures from CoimbranbspEurope raquonbspPortugal raquonbspCoimbra By L and J in PortugalJune 9th 2007Lindsay JasonJust posting a few last pictures from Portugal. Leaving Coimbra and saying goodbye to our friends was kind of hard but we're excited to be on to the next adventure. We're currently having a great time in Istanbul and we'll post http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-167451.html Hi all Well our time here in Portugal is quickly coming to an end just a few days now but luckily we donrsquot have to go back and face reality quite yet as wersquore planning to travel around Europe for six or seven weeks before going back at the end of July. We thought it would be fun to let everyone know what our itinerary is and also to let you know that we are planning to update o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-165511.html This has been another lively week here in Coimbra. We got back from Lisbon last Saturday after spending a week with Jason's family blog is coming on that wersquove been getting behind and the city felt a little different. It is currently the Queima das Fitas or Burning of the Ribbons the biggest student festival of the year and apparently second only to Oktoberfest in terms of beer cons http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-156771.html During the first week of our Easter break five of our friends Tom Tina Emily Jason and his friend Jason yes three Jasons came to visit from California. It was great to see them after so long and we somehow managed to squeeze seven people into our 2bedroom 1bathroom apartment without too much trouble although it did take some serious strategizing to get into the bathroom in the morni http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-150826.html The last connection I had was so slow that none of the pictures uploaded so here are some updates. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Central/Coimbra/blog-149355.html