I arrived in Lisbon after two quick flights (San Francisco to Boston and Boston to Lisbon). I had an unfortunate middle seat on the first leg and the dufus on the aisle did not adhere to the principle of middle seats get the arm rests. If you didn’t know that was an unspoken rule, let me speak it for you, MIDDLE SEATS GET THE ARM RESTS. Don’t be a dufus.
I figured I would be pretty braindead after my flight so I prebooked a shuttle to take me from the airport to my hotel in Coimbra (pronounced Co-EEM-bra) instead of figuring out how to take a couple trains. I’m glad I did and I promptly passed out on the drive. Luckily it was just me in the van. I got to my hotel and headed out to explore before the rain was scheduled to start the next day.
Day 1
Coimbra is called the Oxford of Portugal due to its university. No offense to Boise State, but this school definitely showed up my alma mater. Probably because the buildings were from the 1600s and the students get to wear capes like Harry Potter. Like every town I’ve been to in Portugal, the sidewalks are made of tile and it is hilly as crap. I explored the walking path along the Mondega River and noticed they are really glamming up the town with new roads and sidewalks. My first stop was McDonalds: don’t hate! I like eating at Micky Ds in foreign countries. They are familiar and fast and have weird menu items.
On my way back to the hotel I watched some student hazing with the poor underclassmen having to do planks while the Harry Potter dressed students sat around watching. Oof.
Day 2
The next day was rainy and the aforementioned hills were challenging with the tiles being as B once said, ‘slick as snot.’ I was on the receiving end of a Mr. Bean situation with a girl who sold tickets, but eventually made it to the crown jewel of the university, the Joanina Library. This library is from the 1700s and was very ornate and fancy inside. Pictures were strictly forbidden, so you’ll have to take my word for it. The coolest thing about the place is that every night workers cover up the tables (the books are on shelves) with blankets because a bunch of bats live in the library and eat all the bugs which keeps the books safe from the bugs eating them. The mats protect against guano. Ha!
I toured a couple different museums at the library and if anyone was science minded they would totally dig all the equipment that students used to learn about physics and chemistry. My favorite room was of course the magic rock room (aka geology building). The weirdest thing on the tour was called the Cabinet of Curiosities and it was a dark, moody place with cabinets full of taxidermied animals and bugs and other oddities. I was treated to a surprise organ concert in the St. Michael’s Chapel, which is where the royals would attend church when they lived here before the university took it over.
After a meal of kebabs that I wished would have been a Big Mac, I set off to explore the botanical gardens. This was a huge area and was really cool. I loved the bamboo grove and sensory garden where they marked the plants that you could smell, touch, and taste. After the rain cleared off that evening, I saw a lovely sunset.
I thought Coimbra was a cool town. It is basically all about the University, and one full day was enough to hit the highlights.
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