Sleeping In

It was a special morning because we were not walking today so we got to sleep in.  We both slept very well but our wake-up was 8 instead of 7 and that one hour was heaven.  We are in a 4 star hotel so we had two wonderful beds side by side which is a perfect arrangement for us - separate beds but right next to each other.  We got a leisurely start going down to breakfast at 9.  It was a big buffet and we could pick anything we wanted.  I had a wonderful omelette and Dianne enjoyed scrambled eggs and fruit.

We headed out sightsee around 10 with the goal of seeing the highlights of Coimbra.  Our first church was having Mass so we climbed up the steep roads to one of the churches near the top of the hill.  We went thru one of the original gates built in the wall that surrounded the ancient city.  This was common in Europe - they had a wall surrounding the inner city with gates that closed at night.  They also closed to stop invaders.  The second church was beautiful but also under repair. It had a cloister attached that we toured with many crypts for important people. We climbed higher to a much bigger church with a beautiful altar carved in wood.  This church was newer than the others and still beautiful.  

We walked down to a small cafe to get some water and Diet Coke.  We stopped at a small store with lots of products made from cork.  The material thin and light and beautiful. Dianne picked out a purse to replace the one that had a bad zipper.  It was very pretty and a wonderful choice.

Then we walked further down to a cafe for lunch.  We had pizza and wine sitting out on the plaza.  Then back to the first church which was now open.  It was older and simpler but still beautiful.  

Then back to the hotel - stopping at the super Mercado for supplies.  We loaded our dirty laundry into a suitcase and rolled it to the laundromat.  It was a nice place and very clean.  We dumped the clean clothes back into the suitcase and rolled home.  

We had dinner at a wonderful restaurant with Dianne have risotto and I had pork ribs.  Both were wonderful.  Our starter was a salad with freshly made mozzarella with pesto and cherry tomatoes - a sparking combination of flavors.

It was a wonderful day and we are ready to walk tomorrow.


Comments

  1. Janet ZimMay 3, 2023 at 8:47 AM

    What a great day! My kind of vacation. Beautiful sites, a little shopping and delicious food!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Almost Done

Image
We went from Pontevedra to Padron which was about 13 miles.  The weather was hot with a high of 82 and sunny.  A lot of the track was on gravel trails and the first sections had alot of shade - but for the last sections we were in full sun to finish.  We saw some horses today which was very fun and most were white.   We saw more gardens and people working in them.  Some of the gardens were already in full bloom and others were still getting planted.  We saw a husband and wife with the husband using a how to make the holes in the dirt and the wife dropping seed and filling it back in.  We didn’t get any church stamping yesterday and all of them were closed - this was pretty unusual.   We wanted to talk about our morning ritual.  We awake at 7 and get moving pretty quickly.  Dianne stretches and Jack checks the news.  Then we start going thru the steps. Sun screen followed by new skin followed by bandages then tape.  And finally ...
Read more

Bus Tour To Finisterre

Image
We had a nice day in a bus to Finisterre today since we were not interested in waking another 3 days out to the ocean. The day was a lot of fun with 5 stops including the end point down the Finisterre Camino out at the lighthouse.  We saw some wonderful countryside without having to walk each step.  We saw a beautiful waterfall in the mountains that they called Olympus.  We went to the ‘end of the world’ which was one of the westernmost points beyond which people believed the world ended.  We had a wonderful lunch in Finisterre listening to a terrible singer.   We visited a beautiful church dedicated to sailors who were lost at sea.  Our last stop was at an old Roman bridge and the river below was important for grinding grain.  We finished the tour in a thunder and lightning storm with the rain coming down in buckets as we got off the bus.  We marched a few blocks to a cafe to wait out the heavy rain then headed home.    It was a nice ca...
Read more

Windy Day On The Coast

Image
Our hotel was two blocks from the beach and we slept with the patio door open and it felt great.  It was a short walk to get on the Camino trail and the ocean was right in front of us.  We headed north along streets and then we headed down boardwalks for many miles.  The wooden boards are easier on your feet compared to concrete or stone.  After 4 miles we stopped at a cafe for Diet Coke and an espresso.  We also got out is the wind. Today we saw alot more Camino walkers from many different countries. We continued down the boardwalks with the ocean on our left.  Eventually we veered next to a golf course which was neat.  We saw many golfers as we marched next to the fairways.  They don’t use powered and everyone walks here.   We went down some nice lanes including dirt tracks thru forests with some eucalyptus trees.  We also saw some big commercial gardens with greenhouses.  Then the wind picked up as we got closer to our final dest...
Read more