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Published: April 27th 2018
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Hi Dot
It’s raining, so time to blog.
As I signed off last time we were heading north and a bit inland in the pouring rain to Coimbra, once the capital of Portugal. Coimbra is on a large river with steep streets and alleys leading up to the oldest university in Portugal, a Royal palace, two convents and an old and a new cathedral, sounds great. Alas another Salamanca it was not. While interesting it is very run down and full of graffiti.
That said, the history is interesting as it was the first capital of Portugal as an independent nation under King Afonso. His royal palace is now part of the university and not very impressive, but the university has a most ornate library, no longer in use. Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of the library as we were not allowed. It’s the highlight of the university, you buy timed allocated tickets and are moved on quite quickly, that all said and while it is spectacular we were left wondering if they’d spent more on the building than the books! The basement of the library was cells, as in a prison, for students not making the
grade, tough times, but did they have student loans? The university was radically expanded from the 1940’s to 1960s with some really plain looking buildings but with impressive botanical gardens.
The old cathedral(12
thCentury) is more impressive than the new one which was built in 16
thcentury for the Jesuits and when they were banished became the cathedral in the 18
thcentury, possible as a political statement as opposed to suitability?
On the other side of the river are the ruins of the Santa Clara convent, first built as a single storey, then a second was added because of continuous flooding and eventually abandoned to have a new one built further up the hill. Why do we keep trying to build on flood plains? The ruins and the excavations of the old convent are excellent and the convent must have been spectacular except during the rainy season.
Finally on the graffiti, while it certainly was not artistic, we have no idea if it was offensive, political or funny as we could not read it, except for two pieces which were in English one on the Faculty of Mathematics “2+2=5” and another which read “Take life with a pinch of salt…
and tequila”. On this basis lets hope our visit was at the end of a comic graffiti competition which was all cleaned up as we left, but I think not.
Our next stop Dot was Porto, what a contrast to Coimbra. Claire joined us for a few days and we did what you do in Porto. Porto has so much to offer, built into the hill on the north side of the river Douro estuary the Ribiera area is picturesque streets and alleys with every corner offering an impressive view across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, the port wine area. In the Vila Nova de Gaia there are great views of the Ribiera area with the typical tourist pictures of the pastel coloured buildings.
Having Claire with us always ensures that we are not idle. We visited the cathedral high up on the north side with great views, walked the Ribiera streets, crossed the river twice at both levels on the bridge (see photos), ate on both sides on the banks of the river, went on a port tasting tour (great and of course we had to buy some), visited the ornate and quirky bookshop on
which J.K.Rowling is said to have based the bookshop in Harry Potter (see photos), went on a boat trip down the river and spent hours on buses getting in an out of the city, not helped by me misreading bus timetables more than once!
We stayed north of the city on the coast where there are miles of boardwalks along the coast, for the pilgrims making their way north to Santiago de Compostela, great for easy walking. The boardwalks even have instructions about walking on the right so it must get very busy in the summer. We saw some pilgrims, stoic walkers with rucksacks etc. but not loads of them. The coastal route is apparently very popular for people starting in Portugal, mostly, Lisburn and Porto, and Southern Spain as it avoids the more busy roads and I would think the worse of the hills and mountains.
Now Dot we've visited many places in France and Spain which are on pilgrims routes, not surprising as there are so many, starting in countries including Poland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and even the UK and all going to Santiago de Compostela. So, with Claire having flown home, we crossed back
into Northern Spain heading for Santiago de Compostela and what a spectacular place it is.
Santiago de Compostela supposedly holds the tomb of the Apostle St James who it is said was returned there by his disciples after being beheaded. The tomb was found again in the 9
th century which is when it became a pilgrim destination. Other views are that St James never came to this area of Spain, alive or dead and that it was invented by the French to spread Christianity and encourage the fight against the Moors, who knows? Either way pilgrims have been coming since the 9
th century and still come today in their thousands. Modern day pilgrims come for religious reasons or just as a way of rebooting there lives and Santiago de Compostela is very much geared up to welcome them.
The old town is made up of a variety of old streets linking together squares which mostly have a church, convent or monastery on them, the biggest being flanked by the cathedral, a very ornate hotel which previously was a pilgrims hostel, the city hall and a university building, formally a palace. The streets often have covered galleries, are ornate
and generally in brilliant condition, no graffiti here!
Claire and Pete have been telling us about free walking tours for ages and we finally did one here. There was only four of us and it was great, we will certainly be doing more. The guide not only told us about the architecture and history but also about Galicia and its people and all with great humour. Our two hours lasted nearer three and by the end we knew she preferred the Gothic to the Romanesque architecture.
We also did a guided tour of the cathedral roof top, which due to renovation works took you off the walkways and up the huge granite tiles to the apex of the roof, from here you have a great view of the city as well as the cathedral architecture. The guide turned up to conduct the tour in Spanish but seeing the blank faces on most of our group quickly changed it to English and so I can report that she preferred the Romanesque to the Gothic architecture. Funny old world Dot.
Some of the highlights included a monastery built by the Franciscans who were not on talking terms with the
Bishop and as such built a monastery on a square across from, and bigger than, the cathedral. We loved the closed order of nuns who produce an almond cake which you can buy through a revolving serving hatch at the entrance to their convent. The cathedral uses a huge incense burner which swings from the rafters possibly in the past to cover the smell of the pilgrims, the current one is a replacement as the original was stolen by the French in the Napoleonic wars and melted down to pay the troops. In times gone by pilgrims had to shed their clothes and wash on entering the city possibly as a way of cleansing their sins or again to stop the black death. I have attached plenty of pictures, none of which really do it justice, but if you have the chance to visit you should. It is a stunning place and we look forward to returning. Up there with Salamanca on our list.
And so Dot that's us nearly up to date, we next head to the coast for a chill and some countryside, but that’s for next time.
Take care
Terry and Jane (long suffering
editor)
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