Saturday, April 1 – Ahhh, into every vacation a little rain must fall. I got the best of the day on my sunrise jog, getting in one more circuit of the beach before we departed.

Our first stop was the sanctuary at Fatima, where the clouds were just threatening, the pilgrims inspiring and the candle situation a tad frightening. From there we moved on to the Roman ruins at Conimbriga. Some of the blogs I read indicated these would be boring for those who had been to Rome, but, while small, sections were very well preserved and the mosaics were quite impressive. Only downside was that the rain started in earnest while we were there. Amazingly enough, neither of us melts in rain, so we powered through.

We then continued on to Coimbra and our hotel, which has been in place since 1356 (a couple years before us). Since it was still raining, we popped into the hotel bar, where with some hilarious sign language, we ordered drinks from the non English speaking bartender.

The rain let up, so we toured their gardens, allegedly the location of the secret trysts of the doomed lovers, Pedro and Ines (see yesterday’s post for their burial site). As we didn’t feel like venturing out again, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was an exercise in several courses of delicious “food as art”.

So as to not overwhelm with pictures (and, of course, brilliant captions ), I have taken liberal advantage of collages to group photos together. If anyone feels the need for more details or pictures, feel free to let me know–I have PLENTY! Tomorrow, we explore Coimbra.

22,529 steps, 12.3 miles