Coimbra

coimbara

 

The next day started with a beautiful sunrise on the beach at Ilhavo, can’t believe how calm it looked after the storm in the night, in fact there has been a storm passing over for days with bouts of glorious sunshine mixed with some horrendous rain with thunder and lightning. 

beach sunrise

After a bit of a walk I set off for Coimbra, heard it was a nice place 🙂

coimbara

The parking was just over the river from the main city which was once the capital of Portugal, now its a real tourist mecca and wondering around you can see why. Walking up through the medieval old town brings you to the top of the hill on which the town’s built, right up to the universities, some grand buildings and loads of statues, unfortunately it started to rain, and I mean rain, the streets turned to rivers and every doorway was packed with people trying to shelter, I just wandered back down the hill while the streets were empty!

coimbara   coimbara

coimbara   coimbara

University buildings:

coimbara   coimbara

coimbara   coimbara

Narrow streets:

coimbara   coimbara