View of Coimbra University
The quilt I made a few years ago. I am glad I brought it.
This first month in Coimbra, Portugal
we stayed in an Airbnb in an a 50 year old building on a busy street
with walls so thin we could hear the neighbor's cell phone vibrate.
It is a university town and classes started about two weeks after we
arrived. With this, of course come the parties. Evening meals in
the country are traditionally between 7 pm and 11 pm so we needed to
become used to noises late into the evening. It's not a big deal
because we can nap in the middle of the day if we don't get to sleep
until 2 or 3 am! Oh, to be young again! :)
Like many cities in Portugal the apartments, houses, shops and businesses are built on the hills. And
these are very steep hills with stairs in the sidewalks. The
difference in elevation of the apartment to the plaza downtown is a
steep 300 feet. I was wondering why my ears were popping on the way
back up the hill!
We are finding the locals so helpful,
kind and patient with us. We met a Portuguese man that lived in the
US most of his childhood and he has been amazingly supportive,
driving us around the area and helping with translation when we spoke
to real estate agents. Thank you Vitor, we are looking forward to
having you and your family over for dinner.
Our Portuguese is beginning to help to order food, drink and taxi's and we have even joked with several
locals which left us all laughing. It was a relief to have a fun
moment of humor and understanding when neither of us understood each
other's language. It was bonding on a core human level we have
missed.
Our original intent was to rent a
furnished apartment to keep ourselves free
of stuff that would weigh us down if we ever wanted to pick up and
head somewhere else. We looked at many photographs for
furnished rentals, it seems they are not particularly plentiful. The
ones that are out there are for students and for us that is a big
Nope!
We can't think of any other country we would want to live in and we can travel all over Europe from here very easily for mini visits. Our serious discussion about furnishing an apartment turned to joy when we decided we wanted to put down roots.
We found an apartment in a quieter part of town. It is so lovely! Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large
kitchen with gas stove, oven, dishwasher and washer/dryer combo and a
large living room. We will post pictures when we get the furniture.
Our apartment is a 5 minute walk to the river where Vince can get some amazing shots of the Coimbra
University and the city on the hill. We can't wait to see what the sunrise and sunsets will bring.
8th of May Plaza
Church of Santa Cruz
This is the plaza called 8th of May. There is always something going on there. The Airbnb we are staying in is down the narrow walking only street on the right side of the building in the middle of the picture. We will be posting many more pictures of the area while we are there.
We had already arranged to stay at
another Airbnb in the oldest part of town for the month of October
because we didn't have a rental yet. We will still stay there while we wait for our furniture to be delivered and then we can take our time putting it all together. We are glad Ikea is
just over an hour by train and they deliver! It will be a long and
fun day and I get to finally try the famous meatballs and some
Lingonberry jam.
