Month: April 2022

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…

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…

Storm clouds swirled in this morning, towering billows of dark grey shot with silver, outtakes from a gloomy Baroque masterpiece threatening to unleash the fury of two weeks worth of withheld rain. With the temperature dropping it was time for the down vest and knit cap along with the umbrella. Today we were going to…

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…

What’s with the students sporting long black capes?  A little research and I’ve got a vague answer. The black cape has been a university student’s uniform here for 500 years. “Here” being Coimbra but also seen in Lisbon and Porto as well. Why a black cape? As opposed to some kind of hat or other apparel?…

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jFDQ5Ljpsd9DsNEP7

After a couple cups of Delta coffee (since coming here I’ve become a snob in that regard), we boarded a quick train to Coimbra. Our initial plans for traveling in Portugal had us renting a car, but the Covid crisis priced us out that option. So no increased heart rate going into the centripetal swarm…

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vniKLf6ZkyUMprSC8

Finally getting around to posting photos of the interior. Now that we have left. id highly recommend this place. https://photos.app.goo.gl/ErdrwRPhAmZaJAau7

Who remembers Brownie box cameras? Or Polaroids and the waving of the photo sheet with its curved edges, watching as the photo developed magically within a few minutes? Oh my god, and one’s first Minolta or Canon SLR and trying to figure out f-stops and the endless adjusting, never being absolutely sure it was clearly…