Advertisement
Published: September 18th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Sunday, 4 September 2016, Condeixa-a-Nova to Coimbra, day 10 Up and Down, Up and down
25739 steps
85 stairs
11.24 miles. Garmin GPS 12.39 miles
As we are leaving the pousada, we see a potting wheel and paints for children to use in making ceramic pieces. see photos.
This pousada, our home for a night, started life as a 14thc. palace. At the beginning of the 19th c. it was an inn and entertained royalty and nobility from many European nations. In 1993 it was purchased and became part of the network of pousadas of Portugal. These historical inns are similar to the network of buildings with like backgrounds in Spain that are called paradors.
We start the day in the company of the two women from California. It is a beautiful, early morning. We pass by a field of colorful squash and two charming women that allow us to take their picture with a braid of onions.
We ascend into a forest track but it is not bucolic in nature today as there is a cycle race going on. We are instructed to keep to the left
of the rutty track. After awhile our path and the cyclists diverge and we begin to descend to the town of Palheira. We stop at a statue of two boots: one is painted blue for the Fatima trail and one is painted yellow for the Camino trail.
Sunday morning quiet is shattered by very loud music as we descend the hill, past some factory buildings. As we turn up, steeply, into the town square we are amazed to hear the high volume music is coming from the church - no one is around and the music is certainly not Sunday morning religious music!
After ascending, again, we drop into Antanhol, only to ascend again into Cruz dis Mourocos. This is the high point of this stage and we get a first view into the beautiful Mondego River Valley. We have a cool drink at the cafe and chat with a Portugeuse man and a German girl who are on their way to Fatima. They tell us we are in for a steep descent into Coimbra and they are so right.
We descend sharply, passing by a Roman aqueduct that has been
sliced in half to allow a modern highway to pass through. We continue to descend to the valley floor, then up again, through a modern suburb. We are now getting marvelous views of Coimbra across the river.
We descend down toward the river to Santa Clara, pass the Convento Santa Clara-a-Velha and Santa Clara-a-Nova. (old and new)
We pass Little Portugal, a park that gives children a look at the great buildings and monuments of Portugal and its former empire in miniature. Wanting to bolster national pride, dictator Salazar commissioned these mini-replicas in 1940.
We now cross over the Santa Clara Bridge into Largo da Portagem. The square is vibrant with activity and we turn near the river to try and find our hotel. This is quite a walk and we are weary and there is miscommunication. Jo is leading and plunges across a street and marches on. Next Harlan comes to the same corner and smartly turns left! I get to the corner and decide to just hang out as I think surely someone will retrace their steps. Meanwhile, Jo, realizing she is alone, stops for a cold drink. Harlan,
seeing he does not have his usual entourage, is sure he is close to our hotel and decides to find it. I am on the corner wondering when someone will return! Well, we all finally connect at the right hotel only to discover our bags are not there?
We call Ireland to the agency we are using and they get right on the problem. The baggage man has dropped off bags at the pousada but not picked ours up! Harlan goes with a taxi to pick them up and leaves the two drivers to sort matters out. This actually takes a relatively short time period and we get cleaned up and have a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant. We are looking forward to a day off in Coimbra---
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0265s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb