Time for an update- it's been a while! Evora to Lisbon via the A2- 120km/h most of the way, when Rhonda wasn't looking. It's one of many toll roads that I wanted to avoid, but in the end I relented in order to cross the mighty Lisbon bridge, a 3 or 4 kilometre engineering marvel. It, together with the Christ statue (like Rio's) dominate the skyline of the city. We had a cosy little apartment in Belem, a trendy area on the water with lots of cafés, bakeries and of course castles and monasteries! But the real highlights were to ride the #28 tram through the Lisbon hills, around impossibly sharp corners and coming across breathtaking views on the way, and to finally swim in the Atlantic! My bucket list is getting shorter, only the Indian and Arctic to go. I'm counting Bass Strait as the Southern ocean, by the way.
Now we find ourselves in Coimbra, (quimbra) a university town about 200 kms north of Lisbon. It is reputedly the second oldest university in Europe after Padua, although this is hotly debated! The students here wear black robes all the time, and possibly still speak in Latin. I'll ask one tomorrow about the state of Caesar's health, as that is all I can remember from school. Interestingly, it seems they avoided the big earthquake here (1755 if you have been paying attention) and put it down to their enthusiastic efforts in the inquisition , whereas certain other places felt the wrath of the almighty for some shoddy work in that department.Adeeoosh!
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