We spent New Years Day wandering around the old part of Coimbra and its university. The building above is the Cathedral, it's a fortified building and dosn't resemble a church very much.
The main university building with the Biblioteca Joanina to the right, with over 300,000 ancient leather bound books
The Laboratory Building.
The ancient Aquaducto which suppliedCoimbra with its water.
The entrance to the botanical gardens, unfortuently the gardens were closed for the day.
The Seminary.
The main roman road leading into the site, this road is exactly 4 meters wide and runs from Lisbon to Braga and then on into northern Spain and south west France, 4m which allowed 2 chariots to pass by each other. The more you see of Roman Ruins the more impressed you become with their achievements.
The remains of a villa, the bit in the centre under the glass would have been outside 2000 years ago, the columns supported a covered walkway round the garden.
This was the citern at the end of an Aquaduct which brought the water 3klm from the source. They hold out door concerts there now.
The ruins are immense, the rock pile behind is what remains of the city walls.
SINTRA the pearl of Portugal, been here four times now and never tire of this place. The Palacio National de Sintra. With moorish origins and much changed over the centuries.
The town Hall.
At the moment in Sintra they are having an outdoor art exhibition, this is one of the exhibits. Just love this exhibit.
More on Sintra tomorrow.
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