After a good night's sleep, we were ready to go to join our ship, the Viking Torgil in Porto. First of all we had to make sure our cases were packed and outside our hotel door for the staff to take to the coach for us. We wouldn't see them again until we were on board.
We then just had to eat some breakfast and take ourselves on to the coach for 0830. It was going to be a long day.
Luckily, Viking had arranged a nice comfort stop before we carried on to Coimbra.
Coimbra is famous for its University which is the oldest institution of that type in the Portuguese speaking world, having been established in 1290. The students are often to be seen wearing black capes about the city and they are thought to be the inspiration for Harry Potter and Hogwarts. J K Rowling apparently lived there for a while.
The University has some buildings from the 1930's that are interesting examples of the Brutalist style of architecture often favoured by 20th Century dictators like Mussolini. I didn't take any photos of these.
What the University is really famous for is the library. This was one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. Unfortunately photography is not allowed in the library itself, but you can photograph the exterior and other associated buildings.
