Coimbra — Jim Winslett

OK, I’m going to be honest here… when we were told that our bus trip from Lisbon to Porto to get on the ship included a stop at some place I’d never heard of, where we’d visit a college campus and their library, my first though was “whatever. Sound like they’re just killing time so the crew has time to clean and reset the ship before we get there.”

And that’s true. But it was more than just time filler. More on that later.

We had to have our luggage outside the room by 6:45am - then we went downstairs to the breakfast and had our fill. I headed down early so I could snag my favourite seat on the bus and got to watch a bit of the logistics involved in getting everyones’ bags to the place they needed to go.

Before long, we were all on our buses and headed north from Lisbon to some town named Coimbra (co-EEM-bruh). Full disclosure: I’ve never heard of this place. And it didn’t matter how often the guide said “world famous Coimbra University” it meant nothing to me. I mostly slept on the way out there, but in the times I was awake, I saw olive groves….

… I saw vineyards ….

…and we saw kiwi plantations. I didn’t take a pic of those because from the bus, they look exactly like vineyards and quite frankly, I wouldn’t even remember which was which. Regardless, we arrived at Coimbra before long. It’s an historic town right along the Mondego River. There’s an old aqueduct here.

The reason for our stop here, however, was the university. Whatever. We were greeted by some students in their traditional university costumes.

These students were selling trinkets to help pay for expenses. We picked up a trio of pencils and pens. Very cute.

Notice the stonework on the ground in the previous pic. Intricately-laid cobblestones are as much a part of Portugal as the ornate tilework . In fact, there are even mosaics made of cobblestones on the ground.

Though that doorway in the photo above, and you’re in a very large open area with the law school and med school on either side. The colourful tile roofs were really nice.

Then we had a quick peek into the chapel. Honestly, after the cathedral at Toledo, I couldn’t be bothered with the interior of this church, with the exception of the absolutely exquisite pipe organ.

But the main attraction at the university is the library. When they told us this, I must say we were not very impressed… but HOLY CRAP. We were teased by a visit to the basement of the library, which was used as storage and as a jail (!) and that was interesting enough, I guess. But then they opened the next door and told us ABSOLUTELY NO PHOTOS. These books are from the 1500s and if you really need to check one out, you have to wear gloves, a mask, and be willing to leave all your contact info, just in case. You also must only look at the book in that room and can only use the natural light available.

And since no photos were allowed, I had to google the place to find an interior photo:

Sadly, that photo doesn’t even begin to show the absolutely astonishing beauty of the place. The woodwork is exquisite, the books are priceless, and if it looks like it might exist at Hogwarts, that’s because J.K.Rowling lived in Portugal for awhile and would’ve undoubtedly been familiar with it. Those cloaks the students wear would look right at home in Hogwarts as well!

After visiting the university, we drove into town for a bit of shopping and leg-stretching.

Then off to a place nearby for a nice lunch, where we were serenaded by a singer and two guitarists, one of whom was playing a Portuguese 12-string guitar. It has an unusual sound, something between a guitar and a sitar. The performance was really nice.

The 12-string had an interesting gizmo at the end of the neck. Between songs, the player tuned a couple of the strings and the thing would show the note he played, plus a red or green light to let him know if it was in tune(!) While he played the songs, the thing would name the root of the chord he was playing. I’ve never seen one of those before.

Then it was off to the ship. The ride over was a bit crazy, as Porto is chock full of very narrow, very twisty streets. It was quite impressive that Huey was able to get the bus down to the river, and this was often the view we had out the bus window:

This is our first river cruise. Compared to the ocean vessels, the riverboat is tiny.

This is especially true of the cabin. I imagine that this is similar to living in a “tiny house” - nice and comfy and no wasted space.

We opted for a suite, so there is also a tiny living room to go with the main room.

A bottle of champagne was waiting for us, but we haven’t yet popped the cork on that.

The ship has three levels plus a rooftop terrace. The first level is just cabins, while the second level has cabins and the restaurant.

Level three has cabins (including ours), plus the lounge/bar.

Up top on the terrace, there is lots of seating - both covered and uncovered - plus a pool.

So this will be “home” for the rest of the trip.

In spite of how it may look on this travelogue, this has actually been something of a “working vacation”. In the spare moments between tours and meals, I’m handling (electronically) all sorts of things related to the various stuff going on at the moment. There are emails from the condo board and management company, membership renewal processing (I’m the membership director of the Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers and everyone’s membership renewals came up while we were away), registration processing and correspondence for a handbell festival that’s coming up soon after we get back, and a host of other stuff as well. I’ve been really busy! I’ll admit, though, that my current workstation is pretty sweet.