Pombal (18/11/2014)

I took the train at 10:15 from Coimbra A train station and arrived in Pombal at 11:20. While on the train the sky was clear and sunny but by the time I had reached the town clouds had filled the sky. First thing I did was head to the supermarket Intermaché to get a sandwich for lunch, or sande com queijo e fiambre, ham and cheese. From there I went back towards the city center and reached the largest church but not the main one, the Igreja Nossa Senhora do Cardal. It had an interesting façade but the interior was quite empty apart from the first tomb where the Marquis of Pombal had been buried before being then moved in Lisbon. I then walked up a hill until I reached the castle, the main attraction of the town. The castle built in the 12th century as one of the main defense lines after the Reconquista, had been thoroughly restored in the 1940s and has now a pretty public park all around it and down the hill. The castle is not big but quite nice and the walls can be walked on all around its perimeter, The main keep, contains now a small museum depicting its history and few photographs from the early 20th century and during the restoration process in the 1940s until now. At its top sits a panoramic terrace with views over the town. Coming back down, I asked some info about other monuments in town to the guardian of the castle who gave me pamphlets on 2 museums located downtown. I then descended the hill until I reached the Marques de Pombal square where the main church or Igreja Matriz is located, is was right after noon and the door was open so I decided to head in. Inside was really small but a had a nice altar, though the façade was covered in scaffoldings due to a restoration taking place. Right beside the church sat the small museum which was unfornately closed being it a sunday. On the other side of the square was the Marques de Pombal museum which was unortunately closed for lunch, but having to wait 3 more hours for the next train and since it had started drizzling too I decided to skip it and head home instead. Next to the museum was the Carmo church which was under heavy restorations and completely close, but further on worth seeing was the 18th century bridge spanning the small river running by Pombal. I then took the 13:46 train which arrived in Coimbra at 14:42. Pombal is a nice little town, with a castle worth seeing, and can be visited in half a day.

Lisbon (7,8.9/11/2014)

My parents and brother decided to visit me in Portugal for 3 days so I decided to show them Lisbon in full. Their plane arrived at noon on the 7th, so I took an early train from Coimbra and arrived at 10 in Lisbon. I had some before their arrival so I thought of heading to the Museu Nacional do Azulejo or National Tile Museum.The museum is located in the former Convent of Madre de Deus and follows a chronological order with so many beautiful examples of azulejos dating from the 15th century up to the present day. One really famous and important piece, is a whole wall covered in an azulejo map depicting Lisbon before the 1755 earthquake, amazing! With still some time to spare before my parent's arrival I decided to take a look at the Cathedral which I had previously seen only from the outside. The church itself built in 1147 in the Romanesque style and it is one of the very few buildings that survived the 1755 earthquake though with some damage. The entrance was free for the church itself, but I also decided to visit the cloister which is unusually located behind the main altar because of the conformation of the hill which it stands on being it the only possible location. The entrance was 2 euros and though still under renovation, with a newly excavated site showing arab and roman ruins, the interesting Gothic cloister featured beautiful columns and tombs of kings and nobles. it was nearly time for my parents and brother's arrival so I headed towards the house we decided to rent with Airbnb in the Alfama district. After they had arrived, and having spoken Portuguese with the owner who told me all the info and details on the house, I made everyone unpack and we were off to explore the city. We visited a few churches but I mostly showed them around the city and from the outside; its streets, squares and panoramas. We also decided, well my brother really wanted to, see the Lisbon Oceanarium, which I had already seen before but acquiesced since it is one of the best in Europe. For dinner we decided to eat near the river at the Mercado da Ribeira, a wonderful place which during the day is a bustling marketplace and at night becomes a place filled with many small restaurants and bars with all kinds of things to try. From there walking back home, we stopped at the Praça do Comercio where the Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon's main and most beautiful square, is located. The next morning we were up early and heading to Belem. Since I had already seen both the Jeronimos Monastery and Belem Tower I let my parents and brother visit them while I went to see the Archaeological museum instead, with roman mosaics and items as well as a few Egyptian exhibits and also Lusitan ones. For lunch we headed towards the Padrao dos Descrobimentos, a monument celebrating the Portuguese Age of Discovery of the 15th and 16th centuries, and ate at Portugalia a portuguese cuisine chain restaurant. I then went to get the famous Pasteis de Belem, or pasteis de nata, a delicious egg tart pastry, and then went to the Belem Tower for the others to come out. Once I reached the tower it started pouring but luckily it did not last long and in the meantime we had taken a taxi to the National Museum of Ancient Art. A really wonderful museum starting from early christian art, all the way to Indian, Japan, China and African (pretty much all portuguese colonies) and then the main part with 15th,16th,17th and 18th century paintings, both Portuguese and foreign. After that we decided to head to the house to get ready for dinner since we were meeting our old friend Alessandra and her parents at a really nice restaurant, Lost in Esplanada in the Bairro Alto. After a really good dinner we said goodbye and while heading back home we stopped at the Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara for a wonderful view of the city. The next day we were up early again and started the day with a visit to the Cathedral and St Anthony's church, then walked up the hill towards the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, another amazing view of the city. Walking further on we reached the Sao Vicente de Fora Monastery, a beautiful 17th century church with various beautiful closters, all decorated with blue azulejos, a colourful marble-covered sacristy and most importantly the Pantheon of the House of Braganza. We also got to see a beautiful view of the city and castle from the rooftop of the monastery, where the two bell towers stood. Getting out we continued walking and eventually reached the Miradouro Nossa Senhora do Monte with another beautiful view of the city, castle, river and bridge. We then decided to take a taxi, since it is very cheap here in Lisbon, to get to the other side of town and visit the church of Sao Roque a beautiful Renaissance church, with great interiors especially the unique and famous 18th century Chapel of St John the Baptist which was considered one of Europe's most expensive chapels at that time, since it had first been constructed in Rome with many precious marbles, deconstructed and the transported in Lisbon by ship where it was then rebuilt inside Sao Roque. We then walked a bit, ate a really good pastel de nata, probably better than the one in Belem, at a place called Manteigaria in Largo de Camoes and with some extra time left headed for the Gulbenkian museum. I had visited this museum a few times before, the first time 3 years before,, but it was still nice to see it again, especially the temporary exhibition on the Treasures of the royal palaces of Spain, which I obviously hadn't seen before. In the permanent exhibition, there were the usual artifacts from different periods and world zones, most of which very nice and interesting. Night came so we headed back to the city center and stopped at the Cafe a Brasileira to take a pic with the statue of Fernando Pessoa and then went to have dinner at the Cervejaria Trinidade a medieval looking tavern where the monks were dressed up as monks. The morning after, my parents and brother left early in the morning so I said goodbye and told them we would see each other again for Christmas, and before heading back home to Coimbra I decided to explore a little more, eventually taking an Intercidade train later around lunchtime.

The Cathedral

Azulejo depicting Lisbon before the 1755 earthquake

View from the Miradouro Santa Luzia

The Lisbon Oceanarium at night

Sao Vicente de Fora monastery

A tomb in the Pantheon of Sao Vicente de Fora monastery

View from the rooftop of the Sao Vicente de Fora monastery

View from the Miradouro de Nossa Senhora do Monte

One of the many modern graffiti found around Lisbon

The Chapel of St John the Baptist in the Sao Roque church

One of the streets in Lisbon

Lorvão (28/10/2014)

For this trip I decided to take a blablacar heading towards Penacova and reach Lorvão from there. The driver (whose name I don't remember and lived in Coimbra but worked in Penacova) told me she would drop me before Penacova and from there the walk was shorter. So I jumped off, waved goodbye and started heading towards Lorvão.I first reached Figueira de Lorvão where it started raining and I took cover with a few old people of the area. The rain only lasted a couple of minutes and I started walking again. Going up a hill I eventually reached the Gavinhos windmills; a series of nice windmills overlooking the surrounding area including Penacova down a valley where the Mondego river flows. After taking a few pictures I descended back down and after several hilly ups and downs 4km later I reached Lorvão and its historic monastery. Founded around the 9th century when the Christian forces reconquered the territory from the Moors, it became an important complex already in the 10th century and around the 12th century two very important and now invaluable manuscripts were written there; the Book of the Birds and the Apocalypse of Lorvão both now kept in the national archive of the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. The monastery was then refurbished in the 18th century and unfortunately nothing remains of the medieval times; it is not beautiful architecturally but still quite nice are the choir and main altar both in the Baroque style. After a quick tour by the local custodian, I decided to head to the café located in front of the monastery where they served the local convent pastries, very yummy! After this lunch break (sandwiches as usual when i'm traveling) I was up and walking on towards Coimbra. A few kilometers later I reached some other windmills and then further on walking through a forest, I reached small valley with a house made of schist with a well and a barbecue spot, nice for weekend picnics. Besides it was a small field with some pumpkins, bright orange, and being it nearly Halloween I decided to pick a big one and put it in my bag. Eventually after several other kilometers, totaling 30km and 6 hours in the whole day, I reached Coimbra very tired but satisfied.

The Gavinhos windmills

Cupola of the monastery

The choir and organ

Schist house

Buçaco (25/10/2014)

We (Simona, Marija, Francesca and I) took a bus from Coimbra at 9 and got in front of the Buçaco Palace at around 10. The area surrounding the Palace, which is now a Mata Nacional or national forest, used to be a protected woodland region belonging to a Carmelite monastery and surrounded by walls which are still intact. It has to be noted in fact that 2 popes, Pope Gregory XV in 1623 and Pope Urban VIII in 1643 issued bulls prohibiting women to enter and threatening with excommunication whomever harmed the trees. There are many interesting plants and trees coming from all parts of the world, and a really nice part is the Valley of the Ferns, a small path covered in beautiful giant tree ferns that reminds of Jurassic Park. The monastery that used to own the land built in 1628 is still there; the small chapel with a few of the monks cells still remaining, now incorporated in a luxury hotel. The hotel that we now see was first conceived as a royal residence for the king and queen of Portugal Louis I and Maria Pia, however the idea was scrapped and a hotel was built instead. Construction started in 1888 and ended in 1907, under the supervision of Italian architect Luigi Manini; and what came out was a beautiful romantic palace built in a Neo-Manueline style with resemblances of the Tower of Belem and Jeronimos monastery in Lisbon. A major battle in the Napoleonic Wars took place around the forest in 1810 when the French general Massena was defeated by the British Duke of Wellington who then spent the night at the monastery. So after taking a look of the garden outside the Palace we decided to walk around the forest and reach the highest point of the area. So we took a path that lead through the so called Via Crucis, a recreation of the way Jesus had to take with the cross on his back, among some chapels surrounded and covered by trees all the way to the top where a big cross stood at 549m with a beautiful view of the surrounding forest, the palace and the plains leading to Coimbra and then the ocean. Coming back down we got to the Palace again where we decided to have so we could see the interior too. It was then time to head back home, so we walked down to the town of Luso, famous for its natural spring water sold all around Portugal; we did in fact fill up our bottles with it before reaching the train station where we eventually took the train back home.

The Palace hotel

View from the top of the hill

The cross at the highest point

Conimbriga (24/10/2014)

I decided to visit the roman ruins of Conimbriga located 20km south of Coimbra. I took an early morning bus to the village of Condeixa-a-Nova and then walked a couple of kilometers to reach the entrance of the archaeological site. The ticket with student discount cost 2,50€ and included both the ruins and the small museum. The archaeological site is considered to be one of the best preserved in the Iberian Peninsula. I started my visit by following the roman road that headed towards the center of the town, where the roman forum once stood. The area where the site is located, used to be inhabited already in the 9th century BC and when the Romans came around 139 BC they started building what we can see today. Some domus houses are now located outside the walls, constructed on top of other houses to defend the population from Suebian invaders, that inevitably conquered and sacked the city forcing the roman population to seek refuge in Aeminium nowadays Coimbra. I turned left right before the main gate and saw several interesting mosaics such as those of the House of the Swastika and that of the House of Skeletons. Further on I passed by where the baths once stood and reached the biggest domus in Conimbriga, the House of Cantaber, that did not have any mosaics left, but presented a well kept impluvium and overall plan of the many rooms it had. I then walked on and reached the great thermal building built overlooking the ravine of the river flowing right around the town. After that I passed by the remains of the forum and then back out through the main gate, where I reached the really nice House of the Fountains. This was the only domus that had a protective cover built since most of its mosaics are nearly perfectly preserved. In fact the colors were still very bright as was with their geometric patterns and figures. The peristyle, that still had a few columns and water running through it, was surrounded by beautiful mosaics such as that showing a group of horsemen, Perseus holding the head of Medusa, one with dolphins, and one with sea monsters and fish. After the visit of the ruins, it was time to head to the small museum that contained the several archaeological remains found when digging up the site. The visit was over and I decided to head back home, as previously decided; by foot. The 20km took me nearly 5 hours but it was a pleasant walk as I also thought that even though I had visited many roman ruins back in Italy, this one really surprised me especially with its wonderful mosaics.

Mosaic of the House of the Skeletons

View from the ruins

View of a part of the House of Cantaber

Mosaic of Perseus holding the head of medusa

Peniche (19/10/2014)

I was able to find a guy through Blablacar that was headed for Peniche, so at around 7 am, Zach and I were in front of the hotel Astoria waiting to be pocked up. The drive took about one hour and a half and in the meantime the driver, whose name was Nuno, told us that he was going scuba diving off the coast of Peniche at the Berlengas islands. So he dropped us right in front of the beach and told us he would come back to pick us up at around 6 pm. This day, at the Supertubos beach, an internationally known beach for surfing, was taking place the Wolrd Surfing League competition, where the best and most famous surfers were present. So we took place on the front, near the surf where the waves crashed, and waited for the start of the competition. We some great moves and had a great view too. After the main surfers had surfed, it was time to go explore the town itself. We headed north from the beach and 20 minutes later reached the town center. First thing we visited was the Fort, built in the 16th century, and now a military museum (as most forts in Portugal are). After the visit we started to look for a place to have lunch, and found a nice little restaurant on the waterfront. We then continued walking through the center and reached the western end of the peninsula where the Cabo Cavoeiro was located. It had a nice lighthouse from where we could see the Berlengas islands not too far in the distance. It was then time to had back, so we started walking towards Supertubos beach, once again passing through the city center. We had some extra time to dip our feet in the cold water and then hopped on the car ready to head back to Coimbra.

John John Florence, famous surfer

Surfer riding a wave

Fort of Peniche

Inside the Fort

Cliffs of Peniche

Fatima, Batalha, Alcobaça and Obidos (12/10/2014)

This trip was organized by Quebra Tour a travel agency based on the Quebra costas stairs just below Sé Velha in Coimbra. We took an early bus, leaving at 7 in order to be able to see all four sites in one day. The first stop was Fatima, which I had visited the day before with ESN, so nothing new. Next we headed for the Batalha monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was with Simona (my friend from Bulgaria) and we started exploring the beautiful Gothic and Manueline complex built to commemorate the famous battle of Aljubarrota in which the Portuguese army managed to defeat the Castilian one in 1385. As we entered, a magnificent bare and polished white nave showed us the way to the main altar, though we headed first to the right where the Founder's Chapel was located. This square chapel was built in the first quarter of the 15th century and became the first royal pantheon in Portugal. At its center are placed the tombs of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster, all around are other tombs of some Princes and Kings. We then headed on to the Royal Cloister, beautifully decorated and sculpted with spires and columns and also with fountains at each corner. Heading on, on the eastern side is located the Chapter house which now contains two tombs of the Unknown soldiers died in WWI guarded by two sentinels. Further, we saw the refectory, sleeping rooms and kitchen once used by the monks. The last part was dedicated to the famous Unfinished Chapels which show how the monastery was never fully completed, the roof is missing but the niches are there. After this we were back on the bus and heading for our next destination Alcobaça monastery, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Considered to be Portugal's first Gothic building, it was constructed around the 12th century. With a beautiful façade and a long and narrow nave, it is still Portugal's largest church. Once inside we started going around; we saw the Room of the Kings, the Chapter house, Sacristy, Dormitory, the beautifully vaulted Refectory that looked more like an inside cloister, and the kitchen with an incredibly huge and beautiful chimney with a canal flowing through it that would bring fresh water and fish from the nearby river directly in the kitchen (ingenious). Then we saw the D. Dinis cloister, which was the main one and very nice; there were also two other cloister which were closed (probably for restoration) the Levada cloister and the Rachadoiro cloister. We didn't have much time left so we quickly saw the remaining parts, including the famous and beautifully made tombs of D. Pedro I King of Portugal and his lover Inês de Castro. Legend goes: Pedro fell in love with a Galician noblewoman, Inês, but was prohibited to marry her by his father King Afonso IV. The King then ordered Inês death and Pedro destroyed by anguish decided to take revenge on her killers. After many years and having become King, Pedro ordered the exhumation of Inês corpse and ordered everyone to kneel in front of the decaying body and kissing her ring. This story was also famous in Coimbra since it is where it all happened, now the place being called the Fonte dos Amores in Quinta das Lagrimas. After the visit of the monastery we were left with our last stop on the trip: Obidos. This very nice medieval town, not too far from Lisbon and very close to Peniche, is completely surrounded by walkable walls and one of the best preserved in the country, no wonder its also one of the most visited sites. After hopping off the bus, we headed through the main gate and into the medieval town, colored houses already lining the narrow streets. Walking aimlessly, we traversed the town entered the Igreja de Santa Maria and reached the castle itself which is now a Pousada or luxury hotel. Here every year between July and August is held the medieval festival which attracts many people from around the country; but the most famous and internationally know festival is the Chocolate festival held in spring. After that we walked up some stairs and reached the top of the walls, where we circled the medieval town having some wonderful views to take pictures of. In the end we got back down in the city center and tried the typical drink of the town called Ginjinha or cherry liqueur which is served in a chocolate cup that can be then eater, very tasty! Overall it was a really nice trip even though a bit rushed especially for the two monasteries that alone could have taken half a day each to be thoroughly visited.

Monastery of Batalha

The Royal Cloister

The Unfinished Chapels

The main nave

Monastery of Alcobaça

Cloister of D. Dinis

Tomb of King D. Pedro I

Colored houses in Obidos

Obidos castle

View of Obidos from the walls