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.
Me With Luna (Portuguese Water Dog Puppy), Guardian of Uchas Country House!
Octavio & Jess (Uchas Country House Owners!) and Clare & Dennis
We are standing in front of their huge outdoor oven. I want one!
It rained all day, so we lingered around Uchas Country House. We caught up on email and spent time reading books in the cozy main house. In between storms, we took a tour of the farm. Jess showed us how the eggs are collected from the hen house and how various veggies are harvested.
I loved Jess’ tour of farm life. Having spent a good portion of my youth living on a mini-farm, it was nothing new to me. However, for Dennis, I think it was interesting and helped to bring perspective into my adolescence. It’s one thing for me to say I woke up at 6:30am to milk the goats and when I got home from school, I brought in the eggs. It’s another thing entirely, to walk around the farm and actually see somebody doing those things!
It was also cool to see what sorts of vegetables they can grow in that part of Portugal. We noted a lot of the same fall veggies as we have; squash, cauliflower, broccoli, and beans. They had already harvested the potato and the corn, which was stored for fall and winter.
Later in the afternoon, Octavio and Jess shared a video with adventures offered by Nomades. The video was awesome! Nomades takes people canyoneering, rafting, and rock climbing. They also offer team building activities to corporate clients. It is a separate business than the Uchas Country House, but some of their Uchas clients who come for a “get away” weekend, to be treated to the bed & breakfast may also want a little adventure!
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Oriente Train Station
Bridges of Porto
Uchas Country House
On our second day in Portugal, we took a high speed train (not nearly as fast as Shinkansen!) to Porto. We were excited to meet our Adventure Tour guide, Pedro, and get started on our tour. The plan was to take a walking tour of Porto and then drive to Uchas Country House.