Wait, I think THIS is our favorite day...
This morning was supposed to be a free morning, with an option to travel 45 minutes to Coimbra, birthplace of 6 kings and home to Portugal’s largest and most prestigious university. Without a second thought we all arranged to meet at 9am, piled into our bus (which by the way would sit about 20 people but there are only 7 of us) and went on our way. Coimbra definitely felt like a college town from the beginning, right down to the slogans and revolutionary statements painted on the walls which any good college town should have. We went into the amazing library built in 1713 AD, holding over 300,000 books on display (with 200,000 more packed away in storage) – beautiful Brazilian wood and gold leaf overlay and ceilings painted in a style that made the scenes appear 3 dimensional. Of course you are not allowed to touch anything or even take a photograph, but I did spend several minutes imagining what it would be like to actually browse those ancient books! Perhaps the most interesting fact here is that they allow BATS to live in the library, since they eat the bugs that would otherwise destroy the books. It requires they clean the bat poop off of the tables every morning but that is evidently a small price to pay.
There is a huge square where the students have events and gatherings, and Joana told us about their tradition of burning their ribbons at graduation, each department a different color. We wandered here, and into a beautiful church, and down through the old part of the city and into the more modern shopping area before heading back to the hotel for lunch. I did buy some postcards and did NOT have a problem at the resister, so the spell has been broken.
After another enormous lunch – duck, mashed potatoes, broccoli – we changed into hiking gear and met up with Paolo and his jeep. We went only about a kilometer, the site of an old castle where our trailhead was, and we were met by another trail guide Claudia who came upon me so quickly with a beijos (kiss) to each cheek, quite catching me by surprise. Paolo pointed up to a teeny tiny cottage waaaay up on the mountain and said ‘that is where we are going’. I don’t think any of us believed him – it did not seem humanly possible to do such a thing in one afternoon. But sure enough, we started out on a narrow and rocky path overgrown with brambles and that hallucinogenic flower they make digitalis out of (sorry, the name escapes me at the moment). We made it to the shale village where little shale buildings have been created out of the landscape. In this village, called Talasnal, (Ta-laash-nyal) there are only two year round residents, a couple in their 80’s who have lived there all their lives. We didn’t meet them, but were greeted by Mario who had a nice spread of cheese, bread, and ham for us set out in a tiny stone room where the area kittens kept rushing in hoping for a handout. We sat and rested and refueled then explored the village – a couple of the homes had been recently renovated and one just sold for about 40,000 Euros… though the guide said 10 years ago it could have been bought for 100 Euros. They now have electricity and running water in this remote area, though it was never clear what the bathroom situation is… we used the bushes. There is a restaurant open only on weekends by reservation, and other cottages that are used on occasion. I would like to spend a month there, this being about the fourth setting in this trip I have thought that about. Leo thinks he needs to take his dad here, and I agree.
Eventually we had to begin the climb down, and down is always harder than up – slippery rocky narrow paths – my right foot went off the path into oblivion on several occasions, luckily I did not follow. Somehow I never quite got this picture from Jim’s trip last year – it sounded like such a sedate hike but this was challenging! We were shocked to find it was almost 8PM by the time we got back to the jeep. We showered the sweat and sunblock off, cleaning off the scratched shins, and then walked up the block to a local restaurant for a bite of food. The local experience was great – mass quantities of good food, a large pitcher of the local red wine, and a total bill for 8 of us of $40 Euros. Life is good. And by the way, we ALL loved the hike.
Now to consider we are leaving this wonderful hotel tomorrow morning and heading to Porto. Yikes, we have to pack! Three nights here has made us feel quite at home so this will be some work…..
There is a huge square where the students have events and gatherings, and Joana told us about their tradition of burning their ribbons at graduation, each department a different color. We wandered here, and into a beautiful church, and down through the old part of the city and into the more modern shopping area before heading back to the hotel for lunch. I did buy some postcards and did NOT have a problem at the resister, so the spell has been broken.
After another enormous lunch – duck, mashed potatoes, broccoli – we changed into hiking gear and met up with Paolo and his jeep. We went only about a kilometer, the site of an old castle where our trailhead was, and we were met by another trail guide Claudia who came upon me so quickly with a beijos (kiss) to each cheek, quite catching me by surprise. Paolo pointed up to a teeny tiny cottage waaaay up on the mountain and said ‘that is where we are going’. I don’t think any of us believed him – it did not seem humanly possible to do such a thing in one afternoon. But sure enough, we started out on a narrow and rocky path overgrown with brambles and that hallucinogenic flower they make digitalis out of (sorry, the name escapes me at the moment). We made it to the shale village where little shale buildings have been created out of the landscape. In this village, called Talasnal, (Ta-laash-nyal) there are only two year round residents, a couple in their 80’s who have lived there all their lives. We didn’t meet them, but were greeted by Mario who had a nice spread of cheese, bread, and ham for us set out in a tiny stone room where the area kittens kept rushing in hoping for a handout. We sat and rested and refueled then explored the village – a couple of the homes had been recently renovated and one just sold for about 40,000 Euros… though the guide said 10 years ago it could have been bought for 100 Euros. They now have electricity and running water in this remote area, though it was never clear what the bathroom situation is… we used the bushes. There is a restaurant open only on weekends by reservation, and other cottages that are used on occasion. I would like to spend a month there, this being about the fourth setting in this trip I have thought that about. Leo thinks he needs to take his dad here, and I agree.
Eventually we had to begin the climb down, and down is always harder than up – slippery rocky narrow paths – my right foot went off the path into oblivion on several occasions, luckily I did not follow. Somehow I never quite got this picture from Jim’s trip last year – it sounded like such a sedate hike but this was challenging! We were shocked to find it was almost 8PM by the time we got back to the jeep. We showered the sweat and sunblock off, cleaning off the scratched shins, and then walked up the block to a local restaurant for a bite of food. The local experience was great – mass quantities of good food, a large pitcher of the local red wine, and a total bill for 8 of us of $40 Euros. Life is good. And by the way, we ALL loved the hike.
Now to consider we are leaving this wonderful hotel tomorrow morning and heading to Porto. Yikes, we have to pack! Three nights here has made us feel quite at home so this will be some work…..
1 comment:
Moo, I'm glad you and Leo are having a GREAT time... and thanks a lot for sharing all this.. it is AMAZING! Please send my regards to Gladys & Mallory!
ohhh... and I have a riddle 4 U ... I saw a tree with oranges... ;) jeee, jeee!
Love,
Sole
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