Our time in Porto has come to an end. We found it much more inviting than Lisbon. Both cities are on rivers, but only Porto has their waterfront developed for pedestrian use. Lisbon‘s waterfront is blocked by railroad tracks. There are passages over and under it, but this really restricts access. It was a bit disappointing to have Porto’s main square torn up due to extending the metro lines. It caused us a little inconvenience in having to walk around it and not being able to see the main square unobstructed, but no biggie. Porto is very hilly and some of the streets are steep, but the narrow lanes and endless shops kept it interesting.
Our bus to Coimbra, our next city, did not leave Porto until 11:30am. Actually, one leaves every half hour, but when we bought the tickets a few days ago we picked a late departure date, thinking we would enjoy a little more time in Porto and wouldn’t need to rush to the bus station early. We lazily got up this morning, had our boiled eggs for breakfast and left to walk the nearly two miles to the bus station about 9:30am. We dawdled our way across town, peeking in shops and cafes and got to the bus stop by 10:45am. We sleuthed our way through the accompanying train station and found the bus station. Upstairs we found the restrooms and a waiting room. We used both, then dropped back down to the bus level to board.
As we approached Coimbra (watching our progress on Maps on my phone) I mapped our walking route from the bus depot to our apartment in town. While still riding we were 6 miles from our place, but thankfully the bus continued rolling down the road and I watched the distance drop to 5, then 4, all the way down to 0.6 miles as we pulled into the bus station. It was nearly 1:30pm now and we were both a bit hungry. About 150 yards into our walk we stopped at a cafe and ordered the 2 bowls of the soup of the day and a sandwich. €6.10. Delicious.
Our apartment was on a very busy two lane business road but only about 100ft from the main square, which was car free. We dumped our packs in our room, then headed out to orient ourselves to the town, again following a Rick Steves tour, this one from his book. It took us through the delightful old town and back, then up to the historic university on the hill and back down to old town. While at the university we stopped by the ticket office to buy entrance to the Joanina Library on campus. It is a world heritage site. Look it up on the web. Supposed to be amazing. At the completion of the walking tour I felt I had a good handle on the layout of the town.
One of the things Steves mentions is an old hat shop at one end of town, one of a very few old time businesses that still remain, the rest moving to the suburbs due to an influx of tourists. I find that he mentions this remarkable, because it is his guide books that are bringing the flow of tourists that is ruining the very town they came to see. The hat shop got my attention because in their window I saw a hat I have been casually looking for for the past 40 years. In my youth and thru my first years of teaching I wore a black leather cap. I lost it on a Toledo High School Alpine Club ski trip in about 1985 and have been casually looking for the same hat style ever since. In the window of this hat shop I saw, for the first time, my hat. It was brown leather instead of black. I stared in disbelief but told myself it wasn’t black and I really didn’t need a replacement. I didn’t go in the shop, but for the rest of the evening it weighed on my mind.
We stopped for a bowl of soup and bread at a cafe on the square before returning to our room.
Back in our apartment Sally got a chance to rest while I ran down to the corner grocery store and bought Muselix cereal, milk and, of course, Pepsi.
Back home we rested, blogged, studied up for tomorrow’s visit to the library and went to bed. Another very cool day.
Main Street of old town Coimbra
Old bank and Hotel Astoria
Main square of University of Coimbra
Founded in 1290
Part of university recreated under dictator Salizar in Facist style. Totally without style or class. Compared to old university it is lifeless and stark.
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