Field Trip and a Visitor (Yay!)

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This weekend we went on a field trip organized by our university. We went to four smaller towns south of Coimbra: Batalha, Alcobaça, São Martinho do Porto, and Óbidos. It was a fun trip because most of our classmates and friends went (there were around 60 of us on a big double-decker bus) and so there was lots of time to hang out and goof around with them while checking out some new places in Portugal. Our teachers/tour guides also did an awesome job organizing the trip - we had just about the right amount of time at each location and enough time to have a leisurely Portuguese lunch in Alcobaça.

Batalha and Alcobaça both have large monasteries (from the 14th and 12th centuries, respectively) and they are Unesco World Heritage sites, which means they are really well preserved. Both of the monasteries were built by kings to honor commitments made to the church before the start of historic battles (against the Spanish in Batalha’s case and against the Moors at Alcobaça.) The monasteries were huge: at its peak, Alcobaça had 999 monks (why they wouldn’t let the 1,000th guy in I’m not sure) and they held mass non-stop in shifts. Both of the monastery complexes included cathedrals, courtyards, fountains, and many other small rooms to explore (the wood-fired stove in the kitchen that fed the 999 monks was pretty impressive - it looked like you could set a whole tree inside it.)

São Martinho do Porto is a small town on an almost entirely enclosed bay in the shape of a seashell, with only a small opening to the ocean. We climbed up a hill just outside of the town and got some great views of the ocean and the bay.

Our last stop was in Óbidos just before sunset. We had some coffee and tasted the local ginja cherry liqueur, and then walked along the town wall. We had been to Óbidos in the fall for their annual chocolate festival, but it was nice to see the town again with fewer crowds.

The other exciting thing this weekend was that we had another visitor. My friend Lindy (apparently I only hang out with people with first names that start with “Lind”) had been at a conference in Lisbon and the post-conference tour ended in Coimbra, so she stayed with us on Friday night. We tried out a new restaurant near our house with really good grilled meats, and we also checked out a little fado bar we’d been wanting to go to. The bar was cozy and we heard a few different guys play fado and folk music in a kind of pick-up, sing along style. We would have stayed longer than we did, but things didn’t really get going until midnight (after our bedtime) and we had an early morning the next day because of the field trip.

- Jason

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