We found our hotel in Coombes quickly. Roger has been able to locate hotels close to train/bus stations which makes it a short walk. We got things situated in our room & then walked around the squares nearby. Quaint narrow passage ways with no traffic make it fun to walk. Next we headed up to the University area. It's in the former palace and quite impressive. We saw students wearing long black capes walking around—like Harry Potter! The Science Museum & Cabinets of Curiosity filled the rest of the day. We brought the bus back which ended up taking us all over town…cheap tour. It was raining when we got up the next morning so I stayed in bed & Rog took the umbrella & went for coffee and a sweet pastry. Speaking of sweet pastry, they are on every corner & every street. I think they should rename Portugal to Pastryville. After the weather cleared up around 11, we took off to find the bus to Conimbriga where there were Roman ruins. Those Roman knew how to build things to last! Here 300 BC, about 10,000 lived for almost 500 years. Most amazing were the tile floors still looking pretty good. We had quite a wait for the return bus but it was sunny & we just enjoyed the down time. We've done what we'd hoped to do here in Coimbra so off to Porto we go!
Side story: We've been seeing rooster images on so many things here: signs, table clothes, aprons & even on top of churches. I decided to find out why. According the legend, a village had been the site of a terrible crime. A stranger happen to be passing through so they accused him, convicted him & sentenced him to hang. He claimed he was innocent & ask to see the judge who happen to be just sitting down to a dinner of roasted rooster. The stranger pleaded his case but the judge refused to change the sentence. So the stranger told him that the cooked rooster on his table would crow at the time of the hanging. The judge decided not to eat the rooster & brought it to the hanging where most of the villagers had turned out. All were laughing & enjoying the story. But sure enough, just as they were ready to hang the stranger, the rooster crowed. The stranger lived and the rooster is now considered Good Luck & Long Life!
