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.
Jeronimos Monastery Grounds are beautiful to explore!
The Monastery Up Close!
Navigator’s Compass Mosaic
If I ever got a tattoo…
Us In Front of the Discovery Monument
All the explorers behind us were famous Portuguese explorers! Just a small selection of them: Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Bartholomeu Dias, and Gaspar and Miguel Corte Real. Oh to have been an explorer at that time! Talk about adventure! In their time, it was thought that water near the equator was boiling, there were monsters roaming the seas, there was an edge to the world that one could somehow drop off, there were giant cannibals who would eat you. Many ventured out and never returned because there was no way to accurately measure longitude, there was no understanding of scurvy, and the various empires were all racing against each other for first dibs of new lands.
I thought it fitting that our Adventure Tour ended at the Discovery Monument, a place which honors those who epitomize adventure!
At the end of the Adventure Tour, Dennis and I caught a train North to Coimbra; quintessential university town! We were excited about staying at the uber romantic Quintas Das Lagrimas.
When we arrived in Coimbra, it was late afternoon and quite hot (probably around 85dF). It felt nice, except we had all our bags and were a little fatigued still from our beach hike the day prior. We set to walking towards the hotel and arrived about 30 minutes later all sweaty from exertion.
At the gates of the hotel, we were confronted by a German couple who misread our sweat and backpacks for those of young/poor backpackers. They told us the entrance to the hotel was a different spot, for those who just want to tour the gardens-assuming we were not there to stay.
We assured them we were there to stay and had reserved a room several months prior as it was our anniversary. Immediately embarrassed, the German couple retracted their statements and said that if we should chance run into them later, they would recommend some things to do. Coimbra was one of their all time favorite European getaway spots, so they were eager to share the beta.
Here’s the lovely walk up to the Quinta das Lagrimas
Quinta das Lagrimas
Here we are enjoying the moon rise over Coimbra
Later that night, we wandered into Coimbra in search of Indian food. We found a Pakistani place, Guls Restaurant, with some fabulous curry and we loved their lassi’s (which were served in GIANT 1 pint glasses!).
Tags: 10th Anniversary, Guls, Lisbon, Pakistani Restaurant, Portugal, Walking Tour