We left Lisbon at 9:00 am, and we enjoyed a nice ride to Coimbra. Alone the way, we passed a beautiful city park with at least 8 pickleball courts. We have seen nothing but clean, upscale neighborhoods since arriving in Portugal. We passed large cork plantations, lots of olive groves, and vineyards. There are regulations here that require bus drivers to stop every so often, so we stopped for a “technical break” and it was nice. The area was clean, busy and sold food and had lots of vending machines.
We kept driving and arrived at Coimbra, where we spent about 2 1/2 hours visiting the grounds that included a cathedral and the palace where the royal family lived. This is a large public research university established in Lisbon in 1290. It includes a medical school, a law school, and many other specialities. Tour groups stop here to see the historical significance of the university. It is one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world and the oldest in Portugal. It is also a Unesco World Heritage site. As we were preparing to leave, our guide, Carla managed to get us tickets to visit the library, which was usually unavailable to tours like ours. There are books in the library from 1206, and it was in continuous use until the 1960’s. Research students can get special permission to use the library today. 2 colonies of bats live in the library and protect the books from infestations from bugs, etc.
We didn’t leave the campus until almost 2:00 pm, and we drove to a beautiful golf resort & restaurant where we enjoyed an exquisite meal of sea bass. It was a large meal, including wine and desert, and by now, it was almost 4:00. We still had a 90 minute drive to the Emerald Cruise ship in Porto. We were supposed to arrive around 3:00. The lounge was packed with other travelers who were enjoying the local wines, and they were waiting for us so that the safety briefing could begin. The ship’s staff greeted us warmly, and they bent over backwards to get us checked in and to our cabins. The cabins are small, but there is room for all of our “stuff”. The windows are large, and they actually open.
We went to the briefing, and it was time to eat again. It will be hard to watch what we eat as everything is so good. We sat with a couple from Scotland and our FL friends joined us after awhile. We sail all day tomorrow, and we’ll go through 3 locks while enjoying sunny weather in the 70’s.
Porto is absolutely stunning. The homes are beautiful, and the streets were crowded with people who were touring or shopping. We will be back next Friday, and I hope we’ll have time to explore it. That’s it for today. I haven’t figured out how to post pictures, but I’m working on it. Until tomorrow…