And off we go, a quick train ride to Belem and then cappuccinos by the Tagus River. On to the National Coach Museum just across the street. What’s the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear stuff like Coach Museum? Uh huh, be honest. Musty stables with disintegrating covered wagons? Wells Fargo Pony…
Author: Ella
Nothing to see here
Despite the programmed metro strike this morning, the above ground trains were operating as normal. We caught a train to Cascais, barely a 30 minute ride along the coast. Lisbon sits on the Tagus river which opens to the Atlantic. Cascais sits on the Atlantic. On the map below, the blue circle is where our…
I wanted to call this post…
Pretty Porcelain Pottery. But that’s just plain silly. And i didn’t even have my daily goblet of sangria. Oh, maybe THAT’S the problem. Today’s Target: Jardim Bordallo Pinheiro Route: Bus 706 to Cais do Sodre, change to Metro green line to Campo Grande. I was staring out the window on the bus, not really paying…
What IS behind that old blue door
at Rua da Esperança 16? We wondered leerily as the cab dropped us off at our new address in Lisbon a few days ago. A door that could use some love, a couple of guys feeling no pain leaning against the wall of the bathroom-sized bar next door. We buzz #2 as instructed. A woman…
Through a space warp, to Disneyland?
We easily catch the 714 bus to the Rossio station where all trains lead to Sintra. We step off the train 45 minutes later, into the crisp mountain air of Sintra, a whopping 375 ft above sea level. But there’s hills, and greenery and vistas so it feels like a mountain. And like the tourist…
Hell, history, coffee
Museu de arts Antigua (or this is Ella’s idea of hell) Long hallways with room after room, alcove after alcove of murky paintings depicting adoration, sainthood and torture to those who don’t believe. Grubb will joke about my dislike of this, what I would call, oppressive art. He loves this stuff. The quantity of these…
Right seat, wrong car
Travel day. Coimbra to Lisbon. We hopped aboard the train on the car marked with a big 1°, meaning First class. Being seniors, it cost us a whopping 2€ each for the upgrade. How does one pass that up? Right away we got involved in a bit of a human shell game where we both…
Photos: A Taste of Coimbra 3
We are heading back to Lisbon tomorrow so just a few last photos of Coimbra. By the way, there are a few different pronunciations of Coimbra. we hear both coom-bra and qweem’bra and sometimes qm-bra. and often, the m is sort of swallowed. https://photos.app.goo.gl/vDmQqq2uAq2hrTYX7
Spoiler – The Museu da Agua isn’t about water
Another saunter through the Botanical gardens this morning. The picturesque way to get to the riverfront where we planned to find the Museu da Agua. Not easy to find this little building, probably originally nothing more than a pump house. It was tucked away in the corner of a park that was closed for renovations. …
Everywhere you look, there’s soccer
We took a walk around the neighborhood and happened upon a soccer game in progress. Maybe a city league or a University league. They looked pretty darned good to my untrained eye. And then we saw a guy get injured. Teammates rushed to help. Help drag him unceremoniously off the field that is. And leave…
Photos: A Taste of Coimbra 2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fiLTsUhDNzGDZ9Ls9
From gorillas to convents
Amazing. With a prediction of 95% chance of rain today, we awoke to crisp blue skies. I need to learn how to interpret the weather report on this side of the Atlantic. No rain today. Not one drop. The news that New Mexico is on fire puts a damper on the moment. A sobering reminder…
The daily news round up
The great Portuguese unmasking Today I noticed several people inside buildings without masks. When I pointed that out to Grubb, he said “huh?” Grubb has added The Portuguese News online, an English language Portuguese newspaper to his daily news scan. Sure enough, just today most mask mandates have been dropped. Except on public transportation and…
Photos
University of Coimbra https://photos.app.goo.gl/gGPbkPKXPbbLUsCt9 Our AirBnb in Coimbra As you’ll see, not as modern as our place in Porto. This apartment is in a designated UNESCO heritage building so there are limits on updates. It is located just a block below the University and a couple of blocks from the Botanical Gardens. We can see…
Travel words to live by…when you feel like it
What is your travel mode? We all do it differently I’m sure. Have some tips, tricks or pearls of wisdom or silliness to share? Love to hear them. Here are some of ours. Eat what you want. Try everything. Sugars and fats be damned. You know it’s impossible to gain weight when you travel. Everyone…