Northward through Portugal

My first stop after Lisbon was Fatima, the famous religious shrine where three girls supposedly received prophecies from the Virgin Mary. The best thing about Fatima was the cheap hotel room I'd booked over the web. For less than thirty euros, I got a private room (at last), located right across the street from the sanctuary.

It happened to be Whitsunday. In the evening, I strolled around town and wound up joining in a candlelight procession of a statue of the Blessed Virgin around the sanctuary plaza. It was quite moving.

The next day I packed up again. I had reservations in Coimbra, the university town, but I wanted to see the headquarters of the Knights Templar at nearby Tomar. This entailed a bus ride to Tomar, where I had to hike up the mountain and stow my pack in the woods again, and then back to Fatima. From there I caught an intercity bus to Coimbra, arriving late in the evening.

It was a short walk to the Hotel Oslo, where I got another private room for a nice cheap price over the web. In the evening I watched Fire Walk With Me on British television. While it was showing, I used my Asus Eee to facebook my friend David in California to tell him that I was listening to his movie soundtrack (he played marimba for it).

I stayed two nights in Coimbra, to give myself a little break, and also to allow myself to take the bus outside of town to visit the Roman ruins called Coninbriga, the largest such site in Portugal. I'm a big fan of classical ruins, so this was a must for me. The best part were the re-created atrium fountains.

After two nights in Coimbra, I caught the train to Porto, which I learned from the hostel keeper there considers itself a separate nation, more or less. The Poets Hostel was not easy to get to (a hike up a hill) but the view was magnificent over the city (photo shows the view from my room). In the evening there was a giant book fair, and I had fun perusing the scores of vendors selling their wares.

By the next morning I'd spent eight nights in Portugal. I was really beginning to like it. I'd gotten to use my Portuguese for the first time in real situations, and was pleased to be told on several occassions that I had a Brazilian accent.

Of course I got to see a movie too. Although I'd planned to see one at the AMC in Porto, my extra night in Lisbon cramped my schedule too much. So I wound up trading it for the Cinema City in Lisbon, which was fine by me.