Day 5 - Wednesday, October 2023, 2024 - Lisbon to Porto via Coimbra

 We left Lisbon at 7:15, an early start.

It was a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Coimbra. Many of the forests in Portugal are eucalyptus which is not indigenous and was imported from Australia in the 1600s by Portuguese mariners. It likes the climate here and grows well, almost too well. In the early 20th century it was discovered that this is good for making paper and many private lands were planted with eucalyptus. It grows much more quickly than most trees grown for paper and can be harvested in 8 years. The downside is that it is high in oil which makes it very flammable. In recent years with increasing temperatures and drought, the fires have been catastrophic. We saw areas of forest fire for miles along both sides of the road.

Coimbra was a Roman city until 409AD when it was conquered by the barbarians and Visigoths. Then by the Muslims in 710 and retaken by the Christians in 1096. Over the past 1000 years it has been under the control of the French, Spanish and their own Portuguese leadership.

Coimbra is most famous for the University of Coimbra which is the 2nd oldest university in Europe. It was actually founded in Lisbon in 1290 but was moved to Coimbra in 1537. An interesting trivia fact is that the outfits used in Harry Potter's Hogwarts are based on the traditional uniforms of the Coimbra University students. Although it is not worn by most students, it is required by some student groups and was quite interesting to see - just like a scene out of Harry Potter!

The university library is famous for its collection of ancient books including a 11th century Greek bible manuscript and many Portuguese writings from the 14th century. One interesting trivia fact is that it is home to a colony of small bats which are allowed to stay because they come out at night and eat insects that might damage the books. At night, cloth is spread over the tables to protect them from the bat droppings!

It was a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to our ship, the Avalon Alegra, which was docked in Porto. We had a delicious dinner and around 9pm went up on the upper deck to see the lights of the city as the ship cruised by.