Neat Water Features Outside Lisbon Aquarium
With our 10th Anniversary trip coming to an end, we decide to spend some time at the Lisbon Aquarium. It was a hot day, so it was nice to escape the heat and have a learning adventure. We had heard from several other tourists that the Lisbon Aquarium was extensive and they weren’t joking! It is huge! And, we were happy they have most of the signage in a few languages, including English.
Dennis watching fish do fishy things.
Time for a rest day. We wake up early and walk down to the Douro river docks to our cruiser. We scheduled an all inclusive tour; river boat cruise, tour a winery in the Douro valley, then take the train back. We were excited for a nice relaxing day and to taste the wines of this famous region!
Unfortunately, it was our last day in Coimbra. In the morning, we strolled around the beautiful and romantic gardens of Quintas Das Lagrimas.
First we saw the fountain of tears (where Inez de Castro was assassinated back in the 14th century). She shared a forbidden love with Prince Dom Pedro. Sad.
Then, we ambled over to where Inez and Dom Pedro Met. We shared a kiss to commemorate the couple, who risked everything to be together!
After a lovely and ample breakfast, provided by the Quintas, we visited the Saint Clare Monestary. Since I was named after Saint Clare, it was very cool to be seeing this place! After our little walking tour of the grounds, we had a lovely coffee at the café there; sampling the special Clare Pastry. The pastry was small, light, and fluffy with almonds.
Queen Elizabeth decreed this monastery be build in 1314, for the Order of Saint Clare. The grounds are very extensive, in part because of the wealthy local citizens and royalty who contributed though out history.
Apparently, in 1677, the monastery was abandoned as it was flooded by the Mondego river. Between 1929 to 1940, it was restored. It was opened after the archaeological excavations from 1995-2000.
It was the last day of our adventure tour, so we were sad to say goodbye to Pedro. He was an excellent guide throughout the tour and we really had a blast hanging out with him.
Stand in the place where you live…!
For our last day on tour, Pedro took us on a walking tour of the Jeronimos Monastery and the Portuguese Discovery Monument. It was a gorgeous warm fall day in Lisbon, so walking around with him was super.
We were sad to be done with the tour, but excited to see how we would manage the second week on our own. We normally don’t have any problems in foreign places, but so far on our tour, we had really leaned on Pedro quite a bit. I figured we’d be fine, but there was a small bit of separation anxiety!
After the tour, we travelled up to the university town, Coimbra, and arrived just in time to get settled into the Quintas Das Lagrimas.