portugal: coimbra and conimbriga

since portugal is relatively small, and my stops were never that far from each other, i took early morning buses during most of this trip...a bus from leiria to coimbra started the next leg of this trip...
it was raining a bit as i arrived, which i hated...i hate rain...i think it's the worst weather for a traveler, though i'm sure there are others who would disagree...despite having been a swimmer for years, i hate being wet...anywho...i was able to check into my hostel super early, and the owner gave me a good map of coimbra, as well as a lot of information on where to go and how to get there...the view from my hostel was nifty too...

coimbra is built on 2 hills, and there is a river running through the middle...when i first ventured out i crossed a bridge to go to the old santa clara convent/monastery...it sits on really low land, next to the river, so it flooded a lot, and over time was under water so it has since moved...before it was moved, the solution was to build more floors to the church, but that sort of thing never lasts long...howeva, i love ruins, so i wanted to see what i could...the part that was underwater was only revealed and open for visits in 2000...
queen elizabeth didn't found this monastery, but it was essentially dying before she supported it way back in the 14th century...she was buried here after she died...

every visitor starts their tour by watching a video in the information building/visitor center, which is followed by the chance to wander through a small archeological exhibition...(i watched the video, but sped through the exhibit)...i loved being able to wander through the ruins, though they aren't extensive...
i also visited the 'new' monastery, not much of which is open to the public...you can see the church, which is fancy, but not much else...there are signs stating that one part of the cloister is in such poor shape that there is a good chance of collapse soon, they ask for donations...

on my way back to 'my' hill, i walked across a different bridge, this one was entirely pedestrian...i got to watch kayak polo while i crossed...i've now seen camel polo, elephant polo, and kayak polo...i've never watched 'regular' polo...what other kinds of polo am i missing?
on top of 'my' hill stands the university of coimbra...since the town is old, it wasn't built with wide modern roads...going up the hill means winding along small streets and alleys...i kept going the wrong way, ending up on streets that didn't connect where i thought they should...ooops...the university is old, and well respected...it's also beautiful...

i've spent a lot of time in libraries over my lifetime...the geek in me really wanted to see the library in this university, and i'm glad i made the visit...STUNNING...there is an entry fee, and a part of me wondered at this...an entry fee to see a library??? well worth it...not only is there an entry fee, but there is a specific entry time printed on your ticket...visits aren't long, and they are well regulated...no photography is allowed...and you are not allowed to touch the books, it isn't a working library unless you get special permission to do specific research...the building was built of stone, with very thick walls, no extra climate control is needed to preserve the books and paintings...the painting on the ceilings were amazing, my neck was sore from staring straight up trying to take it all in...without pictures to show, it's hard to describe how amazing this library is, but i'm trying...

after walking though the library, you walk down stairs to what used to be a prison...based on how it is now displayed, life wasn't so bad for people who were incarcerated there...(i'm sure those folks would beg to differ)...
after exiting the library/prison, i visited another building in the university, i don't know what to call it...(i'm sure it has a name, and anyone who takes the time to visit the library is also going to see this building)...it's a big, main building, you can't miss it...many of the rooms in this building were richly decorated, including the one where PhDs are still awarded today...the views over the city from this building were fantastic...

walking down the other side of this hill led me to an old aquaduct that still stands...pretty...
on my way back to my hostel i stepped into almost every pasteleria i passed...by now i had figured out most pasterlerias have variations on the same general items, but that doesn't stop me from looking:)
i don't know how it came about in conversation, but i mentioned to my hostel owner that i love chai (as it is done in india,) and he said there was a cafe around the corner run by an indian family that does chai right...we went for chai, and he was right...it was sooooo good....why can't i make chai like that? what a fabulous way to end a really good day...

the next morning i was up in time to catch a bus to the ancient ruins of conimbriga...there is a town there, but i was heaps more interested in the old roman ruins...what i didn't know (or didn't remember from reading the guidebook) was that entry is free on sunday mornings...yahoooooo!!! not only did i have free entry, there were hardly any other people around for most of my visit...
the ruins of conimbriga aren't in great shape...without information signs, it wouldn't be possible for the average visitor to figure out what is there...some of the ruins are being rebuilt, which i don't love...i don't think it 'matches' but i understand the reasons for doing so...(educational value and all that)...i enjoyed the mosaic decorations on various floors...

the postcards available for conimbriga did not impress me...
i took the bus back to coimbra, and headed up the hill again to see a church...(i'm a jaded traveler who isn't easily impressed by churches, but i still love visiting them...something about the peaceful atmosphere i guess)...the church was pretty, as was the attached cemetary...though you cant go in the cemetary, the area just around the church provides a nice overlook...the views over the city were quiet and lovely...i loved the park i passed on the way there and back...
i visited more pastelerias, and went back to the same cafe for more chai:)

portugal: leiria, batalha, alcobaca, tomar

from peniche i took another early morning bus to the city of leiria...(i've never quite figured out the correct pronunciation of the name..where is the accent supposed to be?)...i wasn't able to check into my hotel, but i was able to leave my bags while i went out for the day...
i had decided ahead of time to use the town as a base to see three UNESCO sights in the area...my first stop was a town called batalha...as lonely planet puts it, there is only one thing to see in this town, an OLD monastery...you can see it from where the bus drops you off, which is basically a streetside bus stop...

the outside is stunning, and totally worth the trip...the inside is rather boring, nothing i haven't seen in any of the gbillions of churches i've seen over the years...(do i sound really jaded?)...there is a small tomb of the unknown inside the church, which is guarded...i got to see the changing of the guards, which was nifty...it isn't a huge ceremony, but it was nice to see...
i tested lonely planet's assertion that there was nothing else to see in town by wandering around a bit...the book was right, there really wasn't anything else to see...

i had salad for lunch, yippee!! i realize this isn't something that needs to go in a blog, but i've already realized that there aren't a lot of vegetable options in portugal...there are vegetables, but not so much for budget travelers, if that makes any sense...
i took another bus to alcobaca, another town with a UNESCO monastery...the bus station isn't in sight distance of the monastery, i had to guess a couple times as to where i should walk...eventually, i found where i should go...(it helped that i had seen a couple postcards with pictures of the monastery, so at least i knew what i was looking for)...the best part of this monastery wasn't the outside, nor the inside, but rather being able to climb stairs in a few areas, which gave me different views of the inside and outside...i love stairs...(yes, i know that sounds wierd)...

i loved the refectory (where everyone ate) because of all the arches in the ceiling...this church was far plainer than batalha...i'm not sure how the UNESCO designation came, i suppose i could read the website to see where the value of this monastery comes from...it's not ugly, i just didn't think it was totally awesome...the monastery in alcobaca was far larger than the one in batalha...i don't know how many monks/nuns/whoeva lived in either during their heydays...nor do i know when those heydays were...(yes, i know i should look it up, i'm sure the two of you that are reading this really want to know)

the bus back to leiria was easy, just time consuming...
the next morning i wandered around leiria a bit while waiting to catch another bus...(portugal is a small country, bus rides aren't that long, though they don't always depart regularly)...to get to tomar, i had to take a bus to batalha, then connect to somewhere else, then catch one last bus...yes, i was confused...this last bus dropped me off in a different place from where i expected, thank goodness for maps:)...
the outside of this monastery is full of gardens, which are beautiful, and looked as though they were productive in addition to being beautiful...

i walked uphill to the monastery in tomar, which sits at the top of the hill overlooking the town...after the two monasteries i'd seen the previous day, i didn't have high hopes...but this monastery was awesome...i ended up wandering for hours...it's huge, even though it doesn't appear that way...every time i thought i'd seen everything, i found a new hallway, or walked around a new corner to see something new...WOW...at least four different cloisters, each very different...
tomar didn't have many places to buy postcards, it wasn't easy to find them...
there is a small platz in the middle of town, i loved it...fun to watch locals hang out...there are gardens near the monastery, i wandered through those while waiting for my bus to depart...the gardens are situated in such a way that they were cold...sitting in a little valley of sorts, so the cold sinks and stays there...i got too cold to hang out for long, so i found a bakery in which to warm up and kill more time...somehow or another i ended up talking to a woman from arizona who owns a house in town...how cool is that?

thankfully, the bus back to leiria was simple, and i only needed one bus...

portugal: peniche

i took a bus from lisbon to a town called peniche...high season in peniche is summer, as it is very close to a few good surf spots...the town was very quiet when my bus arrived, but the weather was lovely, so i didn't mind...the ride from lisbon wasn't long, so i arrived mid morning...straightaway i bought a ticket to my next destination, then found my way to a hostel...
i think i was the only guest in the hostel, i had two beds in a room all to myself...woo hoo...with wifi and heat, i was happy as a clam...after getting myself settled, i headed out to wander around...

i started with what remains of the fortress walls that used to circle the town...parts of the walls are still in great condition...you can walk along the tops of parts of the walls, i loved it...
after the walls, i walked along the water...i loved it...for a while i just laid on the big rocks, soaking up the sun and listening to the waves...soooo peaceful:)
there was nothing else of note in peniche...i saw a beautiful sunset, my dinner was mediocre...
i only found one place in town that sold peniche postcards...

portugal: lisbon

portugal is a new country for me...i don't know why i've never visited previously, but hey, i'm here now...
i flew here straight from kyiv, which was nice...before departing ukraine, i arranged a shuttle to my hotel in lisbon...my flight arrived long after dark, which is something i have always hated...it was 15C, which is apparently warmer than a typical winter in lisbon, but felt especially warm to me, since i was coming from negative temperatures...
i checked in and went to sleep almost straightaway...

the next morning i woke up and though it was cloudy, it was still over 10C...i wore a tshirt and pants, then tied a jacket around my waist...i was less than 100 meters from my hotel the first time someone on the street stopped me to ask if i wasn't cold...apparently i looked a bit crazy in not wearing enough for 'winter'...i tried to explain that i was coming from ukraine, which is heaps colder, especially at this time of year...
my planning for this trip consisted only of the basic logistics...flights to and from lisbon, the airport shuttle to my hotel, and the hotel itself...i didn't have a guidebook, or any specific plans in the country...

i didn't know where i should go in the country, and what i should see...needless to say, my first objective was to find a guidebook...it took me a while, as i found stores with maps and magazines, but not actual bookstores...not surprisingly, the bookstore where i found my guidebook was on a big platz, visited primarily by tourists...
after buying the guidebook i decided to wander around this platz and watch people...while wandering around, someone came up to me and tried to start up a conversation...within about 15 seconds, he offered me drugs...he said he could get anything i wanted...hash from pakistan, coke, etc...he even quoted prices!! needless to say, my answer was no...is this normal?

one of the things for which portugal in general is noted is tiles...they're EVERYWHERE...on the exteriors and interiors of houses and business buildings...not just the tiles you see on a bathroom floors, but handpainted tiles...stunning, absolutely stunning...
during the day, i visited at least 5 churches...portugal is heavily catholic, so all the churches were gussied up for the holidays...in front of three of them were beggars...i'm not sure what makes one church more attractive to beggars than another? all of these churches were listed in the guidebook...some were more interesting than others...

i made my way up to castello sao jorge...it's up on a hill, overlooking a big part of the city...since the skies were grey, the views weren't as stunning as they could've been, but it was neat to see how far i could see...it was fun to figure out where i had already walked through town...it's also a great place to watch tourists/people...there were a few cafes and a couple churches nearby as well...
castello sao jorge was originally built in the 5th century, as a fort for the visigoths...later on, the moors built the castle in the fort, though they were eventually expelled by dom henriques, in 1147...portuguese kings lived in the castle until the 16th century, the whole structure was mostly destoyed by an earthquake in the 18th century...none of it has been renovated or repaired, so you only get to see what remains of the walls, towers, and stairs...

wandering around the grounds of the castle were several peacocks...too bad they didn't stand still long enough for me to get a decent photo...
i managed to get somewhat lost on the way back down into the city centre...ooops...narrow alleys, often connected by stairways, never going in straight lines, always get me all kinds of confused...i figured if i kept heading down the hill, eventually i would get to somewhere i recognized...that sortof proved to be true:)
i next found my way to the ruins of carmen...it used to be a monastary, but all that are left now are the walls...it's a bit eerie to see the walls still standing, with no roof...the earthquake of 1755 was also the destructor here, just as with the castello...there is a small museum in a room off the end of the monastary, they did put a roof back on here...

the next morning i wandered around until i found a cafe with egg tarts and ham and cheese croissants...not difficult to find, but i think i was up earlier than most people?
i walked all the way to belem, an area of the city known for two reasons in particular...the tower of belem, and a pasteleria with the famous portuguese egg tarts...it was a nice walk, even though it was foggy most of the time...i was only able to see one side of the big bridge, which reminded me of the golden gate bridge in san francisco, though they are probably not at all similar...it was probably a longer walk than most people want to do...i think 10km each way?

i saw the discoveries monument, and amused other tourists by setting up the time delay function on my camera, then posing for photos:)
from there i crossed the street and made my way to the mosteiro dos jeronimos...i got there at the end of mass, so i had to wait a bit to enter...i wonder what it's like to attend a church that is also a tourist destination...what is it like to be a participant in a service knowing that people are going in and out of the back of your sanctuary? i wasn't aware of it when i showed up, but entrance to the mosteiro is free on sundays...woo hoo:)...

the cloister area of the mosteiro was awesome...two floors...
for lunch i stopped in a pasteleria listed in the guidebook...the book said this particular pasteleria was a must see place, the egg tarts were particularly awesome here...they were indeed quite tasty...it was a lot bigger than i expected, there were heaps of people eating there...
after i walked back to the centre of lisbon, i treated myself to a hot chocolate from starbucks...i earned the calories, right?
at one point during all my walking of the day, i saw a bike going by me...riding the bike were 6 (yes, 6!!!) guys dressed as santa...AWESOME!!! i also saw an entire (rowing) crew wearing santa hats...i love seeing people so into the holidays:)

the next day was my day trip to sintra...
i woke up christmas morning, the weather was lovely...yahoooo...this was the first beautiful weather day i had in portugal...i decided to walk in a completely different direction, so i walked up avenue liberdad, instead of down...it's a big street...a split avenue with green space in the middle...there is a park at the top of the avenue, with a GIANT portuguese flag...since it was quite windy, the flag was stretched out properly...awesome...

i walked toward the roman aquaduct, i find it amazing it was still there...built so long ago, yet the engineering is so good, it's still standing!! that doesn't happen anymore...
then i walked back to the waterfront just in time for sunset...beautiful...i wasn't the only one watching, but it was still a very peaceful experience...the only bad part was how cold i started to feel, as soon as the sun went down...it got cold, fast...

portugal: sintra

there is a town called sintra, close to lisbon, that has unesco designated sights (technically i think it's the city itself that is designated as a unesco sight)...since i like to check those sights off the list when possible, i decided to do a day trip...the train ride is only about an hour, so it was easy...
i got a bit confused as to where i should go when i got off the train, but that's normal...i'm jealous of, and i wish i was one of those people who has an ingrained sense of direction...i'm good with a map once i figure out which way it goes, but before that point i go every which way...i ended up following the other tourists :)

sintra has several palaces, those are the reasons people come to the town...they're all unique looking, each for their own reasons...
i tend to forget dates and days of the week when i'm traveling, and i tend to forget holidays...i didn't give much thought to the fact that i was doing this day trip 24 december...christmas eve...when i bought the ticket that gave me entrance to the palaces, the cashier told me the palaces would all be closing early, and i had to ask why...how dumb did i feel to forget such a huge holiday? anywho...

the first palace i visited was the national palace of sintra...it is located in the middle of town, it's the first palace i saw when i walked from the train station...the palace was originally built in the 8th century, and previously used as the moorish governors palace...since then, a number of portuguese kings have renovated the palace...
my favourite aspect of this palace were the ceilings...they were all different, and most of them were really really nifty...i figured out the ceilings were worth looking at very quickly, so i spent more time walking in wavy lines because i entered every room looking up toward the ceiling...(i do not have good balance on land, even when i'm watching where i'm going...when i'm not watching where i'm going, well, that's probably rather entertaining to watch)

there were nice signs in each room, describing the decor, as well as how each room was used...
my next palace is called pena palace...it is up on top of the hill, which would normally make for a great photo...howeva, there was heavy fog up there, so i couldn't see a thing...argh...
to get from the center of town to pena palace i took a shuttle bus (not cheap, but i didn't have time to walk, which is what i normally would've done) up the hill...the road is full of switchbacks, some of them very sharp...i didn't feel so great when i got off the bus...i hate being so susceptible to motion sickness...

the pictures i had seen of pena palace showed a palace of many colours and styles of architecture on the outside...various parts of the palace were built at different times, by different rulers...howeva, due to the fog, i wasn't able to really appreciate the colours, and i didn't even see the palace until i was only 20 meters away...it was pea soup fog...so much for good photos...there are ways to walk around the outside of the palace, which would probably allow for great views over the area, if it weren't for the fog...

the inside of the palace was pretty well interpreted, there were signs here just as with the other palace i visited...the ceilings weren't nearly as interesting, but the furniture and other decorations were far more interesting...
if i remember correctly, this palace was never actually lived in by a ruling king/queen, though it was used as a vacation place, and used by family members and friends...i think...
pena palace is surrounded by huge gardens and parks...i wish i had had more time (remember, the palaces were closing) and better weather for walking and exploring...

as it was, i hopped on the last bus back to the centre of town, it was CROWDED...i wasn't the only one who waited until the last minute to get back...
listed in the guidebook was a bakery that allegedly had great egg tarts, so i headed there...it took me a bit to find, though the number of people in there should've clued me in when i walked past...ooops...the egg tarts were quite tasty:)
it was easy to walk back to the train station and catch the next train back to lisbon...

kyiv: hidropark

my first year in ukraine, hidropark was on the list of places in the city i wanted to explore, but for whateva reason, it never happened...this year, my metro train to work goes across the island on which hidropark is located, so i see it almost every day...
hidropark is an amusement park of sorts on an island in the middle of the dnipro river in the middle of kyiv...when i say amusement park of sorts, i mean that it isn't like an amusement park in the states...there are a few rides, but none of them are big...at all...and what we saw looked old, not necessarily in good condition...

hidropark is fairly large, there are woods and garden areas as well...there are also beaches, which are quite crowded when the weather is warm...since we visited in november, that was definitely not the case...(we did see a couple people skinny dipping, which must've been FREEZING)
this was another weekend outing with camille that might've lasted longer if we hadn't both ended up so cold...