Coimbra & Porto: Cloaks, Bats and Delicious Food

After three wonderful but exhausting days in Lisbon, it was time to head North to Coimbra. Adrienne and I slept through the alarms we had set meaning I missed my bus to Coimbra. I managed to switch to the next bus leaving an hour later, put down my heavy backpack and happily sat on it until the bus arrived. While I can tell I am getting stronger from carrying my backpack everywhere, weighing in at just under 20kg, it’s still heavier than I would like.

I slept for most of the bus ride to Coimbra and arrived late in the afternoon and set off to find Joana. Joana is a PhD student who had worked with my Dad at the University of Toronto. While I had never met her before she was a wonderful welcoming host and even toured around with me for a couple days. As my phone was about to die, I had no idea how to get to the University and had to wander for a bit to find a payphone near the bus station. Turns out, payphones are still useful! Joana met me at the public bus stop by the University, we dropped my bag off in her office and wandered around the campus and the city before walking back to her place to have a dinner with two of her close friends. Joana made a Portuguese soup called Caldo Verde which I am going to have to learn how to make. It is a cabbage soup with a potato and onion base that was exactly what I needed after a long day of travelling. Also, I’m guessing the soup is healthy so that’s always a plus!

Over the next few days Joana played tourist with me. We wandered through town, stopping to watch students performing, toured the Universidade de Coimbra, visited the famous Biblioteca Joanina, listened to Fado, and went on a day trip out to the coast to get some sunshine and visit her friend’s family. As I wasn’t staying in a hostel I was able to catch up on little things I had been putting off like laundry and punching a new hole in my belt using a nail and hammer.

The University of Coimbra’s Biblioteca Joanina was easily one of my favourite stops. The 18th century library is a popular tourist attraction for the area. An interesting symbiotic relationship exists here between librarians and bats. Bats live in the library unchallenged as they help protect the books by eating insects that like to feed on pages. The shelves have an overhang to protect the books from bat droppings, and the large wooden tables are covered each night with fabric protectors. While I didn’t see any bats, the knowledge that they were sleeping somewhere nearby made the library even cooler. Sadly, you cannot take photos in the library so here are some photos of the botanical gardens, a seagull eating a starfish and of students singing in the streets.

Later in a café with high ceilings we listened to a cloaked man sing Fado while accompanied by two Portuguese guitar players. Between songs we chatted and I tried to translate a flyer written in Portuguese. Even with my slowly rusting Spanish skills I was able to translate most of it. I felt for the singer as during his performances a few of the café goers were talking and laughing quite loudly. Joana told me that during Fado performances you are supposed to stay silent, even if it’s just in a café environment. By the expression on his face, you could see he was offended by the noise. We made sure we were especailly quiet during the songs and clapped loudly during the breaks all the while sipping tea and eating delicious almond pastries.

One of my favourite things about Coimbra was all the delicious pastries Joana introduced me to. My favourite by far were the queijadas de Pereira named for the little village, Pereira, where they were first baked. I do not have a photo of these because, as usually happens when I’m presented with delicious food, I forgot to take a picture.

On my last day in Coimbra we went to the Quita das Lágrimas to see the gardens behind the hotel. While you technically need to be staying in the hotel to wander the grounds, we parked a little out of the way and just walked over without a problem. In the garden is a fountain with a history. The Fonte das Lágrimas or fountain of tears is said to originate from the tears of Inês de Castro. Inês was a noble woman known for being King Peter’s lover and later Queen (she was crowned after her death). Peter’s father, Afonso, IV had Inês brutally murdered and in retaliation, Peter publicly executed her killers and ripped out their hearts. All in all a cheerful story. I have no idea why the fountain is called the fountain of tears (sarcasm).

With that, my time in Coimbra came to a close. Joana drove me to the train station, and I set off for Porto.

Porto is Portugal’s second largest city and long time rival of Lisbon. Porto is known for it’s port wine so, naturally, while there, I tasted a fair amount of Port. Port wine is fortified by cutting the fermentation process short. This leaves much of the sugar unfermented and strengthens the wine.

I met a group of lovely people in the hostel with whom I explored the city over the next couple days. Unfortunately when one of the girls, Jana, and I went to go for a Port tasting we showed up too late and had to settle for wandering around the water and bridge. On my free walking tour I learned that students in Porto also wear cloaks like those worn by students in Coimbra. Each city lays claim to the urban myth that they inspired J.K. Rowling’s use of cloaks in Harry Potter. Another site said to inspire J.K. is the Livaria Lello. This beautiful book store now charges admission for tourists due to the high volume of people that come to visit instead of shop. It’s easy to see why the store is such a popular attraction, the staircase alone is breath-taking.

The Porto walking tour was one of my favourites simply because wandering around the town is a great pastime, especially when the sun is out and an inquisitive seagull poses for your pictures.

Before leaving Porto it was essential to try a Francesinha. A Francesinha  is a sandwich that includes ham, sausage, roast meat, melted cheese, and tomato. It is covered in a beer based sauce and is served with a massive pile of French fries. Jana and I met up for one last lunch at Cafe Brasil and tried to tackle these massive sandwiches. The Francesinha is clearly the champion of all greasy hangover food and, despite my best efforts, the monster dish was far too much to finish in one sitting.

Unfortunately, I caught another cold while in Porto thanks to one of the four people staying in the small dorm room with me. When asleep, he snored like it was his life calling, and when awake he was either coughing relentlessly or loudly sing along to whatever song was playing in his headphones. I consider myself to be a patient person, but if you rob me of my sleep, get me sick and then sing an off key rendition of “Lean on Me” while I’m trying to watch Dr. Who, I’m going to hate you.

One terrible roommate aside, I had an amazing time in Porto. My time in Portugal was coming to a close so I boarded a plane to head for Madrid.

More to read

• Madrid: the City Built on Water, Surrounded by Walls of Fire
• Lisbon: Fado with a Friend and Failing to be an Adult
• Madrid: the City Built on Water, Surrounded by Walls of Fire
• Tilloy-Les-Cambrai Canadian Cemetery
• Paris: The Louvre, the Tower and Cafés galore
• Cork: Kissing the Blarney Stone and Visiting an Art Gallery with Lord Voldemort
• Dublin: Guinness, Fake Tim Hortons and Guinness
• Barcelona: A magic fountain, bubbly and a lost credit card
• Belfast: the Giant’s Causeway, the Titanic and the Troubles