Coimbra? Okay.

Remember when we went to Oxford and thought,”Okay, cool. It’s pretty. We can probably make this work for a few days.”? That was last week in Coimbra.

There’s an old old university, remnants of the medieval city it used to be, and a pretty river. Our mission was to turn that into 8 interesting days.

The university is interesting. We took a walking tour from a former student and learned about how similar it is to Hogwarts (complete with pointy hats and cloaks as part of the school uniform). And it oversees the botanical garden, which is spectacular (and free).

The old town was good for a few wanders. Narrow twisty streets you can barely walk up and then you watch someone try to parallel park. Vestiges of walls and arches and aqueducts made for interesting sketching and a lovely backdrop for street musicians. And we found the perfect little restaurant to celebrate Bill’s birthday!

The river has a few public beaches, which were just the thing on the days it was over 90 degrees. (And the movie theater down the street from our apartment where we saw Mundo Jurassico in English with Portuguese subtitles.)

Otherwise, it’s a city of young people who aren’t terribly invested in keeping their properties immaculate or their nights restful. (It probably didn’t help that we arrived close to finals and there were a few national holidays sprinkled throughout our stay, too. Party!)

Now we’re heading up to Porto, our last stop in Portugal for the time-being. New adventures await!