The drive from Batalha to Coimbra was quite pleasant and easy. Until we got into the medieval university city itself. Built on a steep hill to protect the inhabitants, the city spills down to the Mondego River, making it quite picturesque.
The home of the second-oldest university in Europe, the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290, is a tight cluster of one way streets and boisterous students. I had rented a VRBO apartment for two nights, for two good reasons:
1. It’s cheap.
2. It has a washer (but not a dryer).
We were pleasantly surprised to learn from our wine tour guide, John, that Waze works really well in Portugal. However, it does not work well in the tiny one way streets of Coimbra. Our VRBO is centrally-located on Rua Aguilar street, but it is a one-way street that is hard to get to.
Waze sent us in a direction that I pretty sure would not work. But, we never had the chance to find out, as there was a moving truck blocking our way at an intersection. It turns out the street to our right was both the street our VRBO is on, as well as a one-way going the opposite way we were trying to go. After going up it a little ways, I backed down the narrow street to a three-way intersection. The moving truck was still there, but suddenly a car came whipping down the other street.
I backed up some more, pulled in front of a closed garage to let him pass. The other driver wasn’t angry, and even gave me a friendly wave. I’m pretty sure I’m not the first to mess that maneuver up.
After waiting some more, I back down the narrow cobblestone street (that’s all they have in Coimbra) for the length of a block, turned around at another intersection, and humbly drove down the hill all the way to the river, where Carol spotted a parking garage. We decided to park there the two nights and just leave the car. I’ve done enough driving in reverse down small streets with stone buildings/walls on either side to last me a lifetime.
Lugging our heavy bags, we climbed up the hill till we found the rental apartment. Between our full backpacks and draggin our full large bags, we were quite winded. Once inside, I could relax a bit.
We need laundry detergent and breakfast foods, so we set out on foot to find a small grocery store. It also was down by the river (more northerly than where we had parked). Going down (and back) we passed through the Arco de Almedina, an imposing gate and tower served as double gate for easier defense.
Coming back, the Apple GPS got confused, and so did we. After a bit of false starts in any direction but the right one, we found our way back.
We walked back down the hill to a small restaurant, A Cozinha da Maria. It was outstanding, despite only having a handful of tables and a handful of menu options.
I had the octopus, while Carol had the goat stew. The goat had marinated for 48 hours in wine, and was quite tasty.
This time, going back up the hill, we knew where to turn and made it back for a good night’s sleep.
Except it wasn’t. University students were pretty drunk on a Thursday night, and we heard them going up and down the street all night long. We thought about yelling at them, but that would only make things worse.
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