Day 29: Braga to Coimbra

Today, (Wednesday), we took an express train down to Coimbra, the University town in Portugal's Beria province, which has recently been renamed the Centro region in an administrative overhaul. We picked several cities in different regions of the country to visit. We started with Porto in the Douro region, Braga in the northern Minho region, and now Coimbra in the center. Tomorrow will go further south and visit the walled city of Obidos, and finish up in Lisbon.

We woke up a little before dawn in Braga, and went for an early morning walk around the city, before coming back for breakfast around 9:00. After breakfast, we packed and checked out of the hotel, but left our bags, since our train didn't leave until 1:00. We walked around for a bit, touring the cathedral, which we'd missed yesterday, and then went looking for a place for lunch. Since we had to leave for the train station by 12:30, we couldn't find a regular restaurant that was open yet, so we settled for some hamburgers at a cafe. (All the burgers were topped with cheese, ham, and a fried egg.)

Aftr lunch, we picked up our bags and walked down to the train station where we caught the express train to Coimbra. The express train actually stops outside of Coimbra itself at the Coimbra-B station. Coimbra-B is actually a little more than a platform, so it took us a few minutes to find the regional train to the "real" Coimbra. Once we got into town, though, there was a regular station, with a helpful English-speaking information desk, who explained about the trains we'd need for Obidos and Lisbon.

Tomorrow's necessities out of the way, we headed for the hotel we'd booked last week, right across from the train station. It didn't look like much to look at, but our room was large and clean, even though the view was of the trains coming in. (Fortunately, we had good shutters which completely cut out the noise.) As we've done before, we just dropped our bags in our room and set out to explore the city. First stop, coffee and pastries.

We walked along the river to the bridge and grabbed a table on the Praca do Portegem, where we got coffee and two regional specialties involving custard and marmalade. Thus fortified, we headed out on our walking tour, up the pedestrian mall, past the commercial plaza (where they used to have bullfights), by the municipal market (open only in the morning) and over to the elevator to the university.

Coimbra University (one of the oldest in Europe) dominates the town from its position on the top of the hill. The dictator Salazar razed part of the old university to create the new university on a portion of the property, but it's still the old medieval university that's the big draw. We walked around the property, poked our heads into some of the hallways and the student cantena, and then headed back down to the cathedral and the old town.

After climbing down the hill, we headed back to our hotel room to get ready for dinner. We used our guidebook to locate a restaurant that served grilled meats. Even with the guide, though, it was hard to find, since it didn't look like a restaurant from the street; it looked like a meat market. You walk past a meat counter to the tables in the back. I had a mixed grill skewer (pork, beef, lamb, kid) and Kathy had chicken. Our meals came with fries and salad and were really filling. The total bill (with drinks) was 11 Euros.

After dinner, we walked around a little more and then headed back to the square for an ice-cream night-cap. Tomorrow, we're leaving at 9:35 for Obidos.