John Edward Cooper’s Notes

Day 4
We will leave Lisbon after breakfast, heading north to Oporto. Our first stop on the way is at the town of Fatima, one of the most important Catholic shrines in the world. We then visit Coimbra, famous for its historic university, one of Europe’s oldest. We will have a visit inside the university, including its superb library and will have time in Coimbra for lunch. We will arrive in Oporto in the late afternoon, staying for three nights, at the Porto Palacio Congress Hotel and Spa, Avenida da Boavista 1269, 4100-130 Porto, Tel: 00 351 22 608 6600. We will have dinner in the hotel tonight and for the next two nights. The swimming pool is free of charge, as are the compulsory swimming caps.

Today’s route as plotted on Google Maps

Janet wrote: “[I had] hardly any sleep again. I lay awake for hours. Felt bog-eyed when the alarm went off. We washed[i] and dressed then took our bags down to reception. To breakfast.” I had some corn flakes and peach juice, as yesterday. I put bacon, those tiny boiled sausages and some beans on a plate; but as I reached for the bottle of ketchup, the plate fell on the floor and smashed, scattering fragments of pottery and food all over the floor. None of the staff came forward to help; and as I felt too embarrassed to continue, I told Janet that I was going back to the room, and did that. Continuing from that point in Janet’s journal: “I lingered. Then Paul came and said [that] taxi drivers were going to demonstrate, so we needed to get our bags on the coach within the next twenty minutes. So I legged it back to the room to tell [John], and we grabbed all our stuff[ii] and went to the coach.” The taxi strike and demonstration was going to disrupt all traffic in Avenida da Liberdade; so the choice was either to go now to the coach parked there, or for the coach to go somewhere else, which would involve walking a relatively long way with our luggage. The departure time in the itinerary that Paul had posted on the first evening said “8.30am”, but Janet and I were on the coach by 8.09am.

[i] We washed: It’s my practice to shower in the morning, and Janet’s to do so in the evening, so that is what I did.
[ii] All our stuff — i.e. our hand luggage. We’d taken our cases down to the lobby earlier.

Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 08:09:10
Views from the coach: “RIBADOURO restaurante cervejaria”


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 08:09:42
Views from the coach: memorial to the Great War fallen; and (just visible between the pink building and the building with flags) Lisboa Plaza hotel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 08:18:44
Views from the coach: taxis massed for a strike and demonstration

Departure didn’t occur much earlier than the originally scheduled 8.30am, though. We proceeded along the A1 motorway, leaving it to visit Fátima.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 09:34:18
Views from the coach: en route to Fátima


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 09:40:24
Views from the coach: en route to Fátima

We arrived ca.10am. Janet commented: “It was sunny but the wind was cool and I was cold.” Paul led us the short distance to the entrance of the Sanctuary of Fátima.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:04:20
Shrine near the Sanctuary of Fátima

He pointed out an oak tree from which cork had been harvested, and around which fresh cork was growing.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:06:08
Evergreen oak, growing new cork for further harvesting

Then we had an hour to explore. Janet and I decided that we only had time to visit one of the two main buildings, so chose the somewhat nearer, austerely modern-styled, late 20th century Basilica of the Holy Trinity, rather than the farther, early-to-mid-20th century, ornately “Baroque Revival”-styled Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:08:08
Steel cross and Basilica of the Holy Trinity at the south-west end of the Sanctuary of Fátima


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:09:30
Statue of Pope John Paul II near the Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:10:46
Sanctuary of Fátima: view north-east of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary and its colonnade. Towards the left is the Chapel of the Apparitions. 


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:11:04
Views of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (1): (left:) Chapel of the Apparitions; (centre:) the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:11:16
Views of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (2)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:13:14
Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:13:50
Façade of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:14:30
Details from the façade of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:14:50
Details from the façade of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:14:58
Details from the façade of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:16:08
Entrance of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:17:14
Basilica of the Holy Trinity


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:18:10
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: main altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:19:00
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: large crucifix in the centre of the main altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:19:12
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: Immaculate Heart of Mary statue and part of the large mosaic panel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:19:22
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: part of the large mosaic panel behind the main altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:20:30
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: views from the altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:20:38
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: views from the altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:21:58
Basilica of the Holy Trinity: detail from the large mosaic panel — hell


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:25:38
View of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary from the portico of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity

Just by the entrance of the Sanctuary of Fátima were some toilets, which we used; and beyond them, in a corner, was a section of the Berlin Wall in a perhaps dodecagonal glass enclosure (or what would have been, if the shape had been continued all the way around).


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:29:02
Entrance of the Sanctuary of Fátima, looking towards the enclosure containing a section of the Berlin Wall


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:32:12
Sanctuary of Fátima: section of the Berlin Wall


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:32:12 (detail)
BERLIN WALL
Erected on 13 August 1961
Demolished on 9 November 1989
Thank you, heavenly shepherdess for having guided
with maternal affection the people to freedom!
(John Paul II in Fátima, 12 May 1991)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:32:42
Sanctuary of Fátima: section of the Berlin Wall


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 10:34:44
Sanctuary of Fátima: pomegranate?

Across the street near the entrance of the Sanctuary of Fátima were some souvenir shops selling various wares made of cork and also patterned ceramic tiles. We settled on a compromise between the two by buying a cork mat with an inset tile to go in our souvenir cabinet back home. At another shop I bought a picture postcard showing the three shepherd children, who reported three apparitions of the Angel of Peace (the guardian angel of Portugal) in 1916 and several apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917 — which were why the Sanctuary came about. The children were Lúcia dos Santos, then aged nine, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged eight and six. The latter two died of, or as a result of, the 1918 influenza pandemic, in 1919 and 1920. Lúcia became a nun and lived to the age of 97, dying in 2005. The two siblings were beatified on 13 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II, and canonised on 13 May 2017, the first centennial of the first Marian apparition, by Pope Francis. The canonisation process for Sister Lúcia is under way.


Friday 16 November 2018 — 13:46:00
Cork-mounted tile in our souvenir cabinet at home


Postcard depicting Lúcia Santos and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who reported seeing Marian apparitions near Fátima in 1917

We went for a drink, before going out to the rendezvous point. The coach set off, ca.11.15am, and first went around a roundabout to the south-east of the Sanctuary, Rotunda dos Pastorinhos (Roundabout of the Little Shepherds), before heading more or less westwards to resume its northerly way along the A1 motorway.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 11:22:44
View from the coach: Roundabout of the Little Shepherds, Fátima

Next stop was at Coimbra, where first we were given a couple of hours for lunch, before we would rejoin the coach to go up to visit the university. “It was warmer there and I was OK,” Janet commented. We were deposited in Avenida Emídio Navarro by the River Mondego; and Janet and I, proceeding northwards, skirted the square, Largo da Portagem, and continued almost a couple of hundred yards along Rua Ferreira Borges. We were looking for somewhere to eat, and passed a number of establishments. There were tables under umbrellas outside Café Restaurante Pastelaria Nicola, which we decided to try; but we went inside, and sat at one of the tables to the right of a longish counter. Unfortunately, after we placed our order and received drinks (beer for me and diet cola for Janet), we were waiting a long time for the food, because we were somehow forgotten. The server was very apologetic. We walked back down Rua Ferreira Borges, passing outside the post office a very British-looking pillar box. We went as far as the river.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:42:38
“Café Restaurante Pastelaria Nicola”, Rua Ferreira Borges 35, Coimbra


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:45:46
Barbican Gate, seen from Rua Ferreira Borges, Coimbra


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:46:30
View south along Rua Ferreira Borges, Coimbra


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:52:58
Views across Largo da Portagem from beside the River Mondego


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:51:56
Views across Largo da Portagem from beside the River Mondego


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:56:34
Views across Largo da Portagem from beside the River Mondego


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 13:54:36
Monument to Joaquim António de Aguiar (1792–1884) in Largo da Portagem, Coimbra

Then we had a drink (and a pee) at Café Montanha in Largo da Portagem; I had a coffee and Janet a can of Coke Zero (14:01 on the receipt). After boarding the coach, we went a somewhat roundabout way, with commentary, through the historic part of the town, before we ascended to the University.


Map of Coimbra from Open Street Map, showing the locations and timings of photos taken during our coach tour of the town

The coach picked us up in Avenida Emídio Navarro just by the square, Largo da Portagem. The first photo that I took through the window was of Coimbra Town Hall, ca.¹⁄₃-mile north of there; but the straight road between the two is pedestrianised, so the coach had to go around nearly a mile to get there.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:38:30
Views from the coach: Coimbra Town Hall and Church of the Holy Cross

We were heading east along Rua Olímpio Nicolau Rui Fernandes, and went along its continuation Avenida Sá da Bandeira, turning right, at its end at Praça da República, along Rua Oliveira Matos. At the end of this there was a 90° turn left into Rua Castro Matoso, and at the “elbow” of the turn (i.e. to the right, or westwards) I saw a monumental stairway. (I didn’t know at that point that if we’d gone up those five flights each of 25 steps, and continued nearly a further 300 yards, we’d have got to where the coach was ultimately headed.)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:42:20
Views from the coach: Monumental Stairs to Coimbra University

At the end of Rua Castro Matoso were the remains of the late 16th century Aqueduct of Saint Sebastian, also called the Arches of the Garden, for beyond them was the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra. The first aqueduct, which this one replaced (whether immediately or ultimately, isn’t clear), had been constructed in Roman times.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:42:56
Views from the coach: Aqueduct of São Sebastião (Or Arches of the Garden) and Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra

We passed through one of the arches and went on along Alameda Júlio Henriques, with the Botanical Garden on our right. Shortly after the end of the Garden, we turned left and went along Avenida Marnoco e Sousa, passing on our right the historical public garden Penedo da Saudade (Rock of Nostalgia), where Dom Pedro (1320–1367) king of Portugal used to come to grieve the loss of his beloved Inês de Castro (d. 1355).


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:46:14
Views from the coach: bust in the Penedo da Saudade of José Maria de Eça de Queirós (1845–1900), said to have been the greatest Portuguese writer in the realist style, even ranked alongside Dickens, Balzac and Tolstoy

It’s likely that we turned left, at the end of Penedo da Saudade, along Rua Santa Teresa. In front of us, at the end of that, was what looked as if it could be a monastery but was in fact the Penitentiary of Coimbra!


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:50:26
Views from the coach: Penitentiary of Coimbra

We bore left into Rua Infantaria, named perhaps after the barracks of the Intervention Brigade on its south (left) side. This road curved round to the right, and brought us back to the Saint Sebastian arches.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:51:16
Views from the coach: (right:) House-Museum of Bissaya Barreto, fine art collection in the former mansion of medical professor Fernando Bissaya Barreto (1886–1974); (ahead:) Aqueduct of São Sebastião

We carried straight on through the arches, passing a roundabout that would be named in English “John Paul II Square” or “Place”, then continuing straight ahead along Rua Alexandre Herculano. This ended at the south side of Praça da República, around which we went. On the east side was Parque de Santa Cruz (“Holy Cross Park”), also known as Jardim da Sereia (“Siren Garden”, more usually rendered “Mermaid Garden”).


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:53:26
Views from the coach: entrance of Santa Cruz Park (also called the Mermaid Garden)

We left Praça da República, at the north-west exit, along the north-westward carriageway of Avenida Sá da Bandeira; then we took the first available left turn, crossing the south-eastward carriageway of Avenida Sá da Bandeira (which we’d come along earlier), and went along Rua Padre António Vieira, climbing the hill on which the University of Coimbra stands.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:54:50
Views from the coach: crossing Avenida Sá da Bandeira

A left turn along Rua da Couraça Apóstolos took us to our destination, Largo da Porta Férrea — at the end of which was the Porta Férrea (Iron Gate) itself, the entrance to the historic buildings of the University.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:58:40
Views from the coach: Machado de Castro National Museum


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:59:18
Views from the coach: Largo da Porta Férrea, our destination


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 14:59:24
Views from the coach: General Library of the University of Coimbra, Largo da Porta Férrea

At Largo da Porta Férrea we got off the coach.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:06:44
University of Coimbra, Faculty of Letters, north side of Largo da Porta Férrea


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:07:04
University of Coimbra, Porta Férrea, west end of Largo da Porta Férrea


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:07:20
University of Coimbra, General Library, south side of Largo da Porta Férrea


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:08:02
Porta Férrea, east façade

After standing outside the Iron Gate for information and explanations, we proceeded through it into the Courtyard of the Schools (Pátio das Escolas).


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:13:00
Porta Férrea, east façade


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:13:48
Details of Porta Férrea, east façade (1)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:14:14
Details of Porta Férrea, east façade (2)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:15:12
Details of Porta Férrea, east façade (3)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:15:38
Entering through the Porta Férrea


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:16:36
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: Porta Férrea, west façade


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:16:46
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: Porta Férrea and the colonnaded Via Latina of the Palace of Schools


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:16:54
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: Central Portico and Via Latina of the Palace of Schools


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:17:02
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: University Tower


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:17:10
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: St. Michael’s Chapel with its Manueline portal


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:17:16
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: St. Michael’s Chapel and the Joanine Library

Paul pointed out the statue of King John III (João III), towards the southern end of the square. He re-established the university in Coimbra in 1537 in what had previously been a royal palace. Paul reckoned that the statue was acquired “on the cheap”, that it was originally made to depict King John’s English contemporary Henry VIII (1491–1547), and that the people who’d commissioned that couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for it. (It’s a relatively recent feature of the square, I later found out, by Portuguese sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa (1885–1955) in 1948. He also designed the Christ the King statue in Almada (Wikipedia).)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:17:28
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: statue of Dom João III (1502–1557), king of Portugal (1521–1557)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:17:46
Views around the Courtyard of the Schools: east side

We entered the former Royal Palace by way of the central monumental stairs and porticoed, pedimented grand entrance. Within that, there were doors on the left and the right; and the right one led by way of stairs and more stairs to the Arms Room (Sala das Armas) where the halberds of the Royal Academic Guard were to be seen, still used on ceremonial occasions.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:18:28
Central Portico of the Palace of Schools


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:19:24
Within the Central Portico


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:21:30
Entering the Palace of Schools, the former Royal Palace


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:22:04
Ascending to the Arms Room in the former Royal Palace


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:22:58
The Arms Room in the former Royal Palace


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:24:08
The Arms Room in the former Royal Palace: detail of the ceiling


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:24:38
The Arms Room in the former Royal Palace: halberds


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:25:24
The Arms Room in the former Royal Palace: one of the paintings on the wall


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:25:34
The Arms Room in the former Royal Palace: adjoining room


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:26:44
The Arms Room in the former Royal Palace: detail of the ceiling

A door on the north side of the Arms Room, just by the north-west corner, gave access to a long corridor that went off to the left. It projected from the north side of the building (arguably a complex of three contiguous buildings in a row), supported by pillars, and was punctuated by four alcoves, one at each end, and two in between; each alcove was actually part of a tower. As we proceeded, we saw that there were openings in the south side of the corridor overlooking the Great Hall of Acts (Sala Grande dos Actos), the main room of the University, formerly the royal throne-room, where the main ceremonies are held. It is also called “Sala dos Capelos” after the small cape used by university doctors on solemn occasions.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:27:30
Leaving the Arms Room


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:28:44
Corridor on the north side of the Great Hall of Acts


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:29:04
View north from the corridor: (left:) the Old Cathedral of Coimbra (Sé Velha de Coimbra)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:29:42
Great Hall of Acts, seen from the corridor


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:29:54
Great Hall of Acts, seen from the corridor


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:30:00
Great Hall of Acts, seen from the corridor


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:30:54
Great Hall of Acts, seen from the corridor


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:31:02
Great Hall of Acts, seen from the corridor


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:37:06
Stone figure in an alcove of the corridor


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:37:22
Corridor on the north side of the Great Hall of Acts

The corridor led us to the Private Examination Room (Sala do Exame Privado), where until the second half of the 19th century candidates for a doctorate would undergo oral examination in secret and at night. There are paintings round the walls, of rectors from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and there are emblems on the ceiling of the various faculties of the university.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:38:24
Private Examination Room


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:39:00
Private Examination Room


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:39:28
Private Examination Room


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:39:50
Private Examination Room


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:40:14
Private Examination Room

On exiting that room, we found ourselves on the middle storey of three, looking into the quadrangle of the north-west wing of the complex.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:45:58
Quadrangle in the north-west wing of the former Royal Place


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:46:06
Quadrangle in the north-west wing of the former Royal Place


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:46:14
Quadrangle in the north-west wing of the former Royal Place


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:47:04
Quadrangle in the north-west wing of the former Royal Place


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:48:28
Lecture room in the north-west wing of the former Royal Place


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:49:12
Descending to the ground floor of the north-west wing

Near the south-west corner of that building, a door led southwards into St. Michael’s Chapel (Capela de S. Miguel). The main altarpiece called to mind the stairway “resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven” of Jacob’s dream (Genesis 28:12–13). It couldn’t represent the “seven heavens”, because there were at least eight of them! The organ, dating from 1733, with over 2000 pipes, was interesting in that, as well as the expected vertical pipes, there were also groups of pipes projecting horizontally, some in flabelliform array.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:50:54
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:51:02
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:51:28
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:51:40
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:51:48
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:52:02
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:52:24
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:52:40
Saint Michael’s Chapel


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:56:26
Saint Michael’s Chapel: details of the high altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:56:48
Saint Michael’s Chapel: details of the high altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 15:57:12
Saint Michael’s Chapel: details of the high altar


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:12:46
Views from the south end of the Courtyard of the Schools: looking south — asymmetrical cable-stayed Queen Elizabeth Bridge (Ponte Rainha Santa Isabel) over the Mondego River


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:13:34
Views from the south end of the Courtyard of the Schools: looking north


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:13:42
Views from the south end of the Courtyard of the Schools: looking north

Having left St. Michael’s Chapel and returned to the Courtyard of the Schools, we descended flights of steps at the south-west corner of the courtyard, entering the building there at a basement level, into the vaulted Academic Prison (Prisão Académica). It was explained to us as the place where students would formerly be confined who behaved in an unseemly manner or showed disrespect to tutors. “I had a ‘claustrophobic do’ in the prison,” Janet wrote, “and had to exit quickly.”


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:18:16
Descending Minerva’s Stairs


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:18:56
Descending Minerva’s Stairs


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:19:36
Descending Minerva’s Stairs and entering the Academic Prison


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:21:16
The Academic Prison


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:22:44
Spiral stairway from the Academic Prison

From there, the tour party was conducted upstairs to a middle level, also with vaulted ceilings, which was part of the library.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:24:10
Our way up from the Academic Prison to the Intermediate Floor of the Library


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:25:00
Intermediate Floor of the Library


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:25:30
Intermediate Floor of the Library


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:26:50
Intermediate Floor of the Library: manuscript in a display case

Upstairs from there was the huge, stunningly magnificent Joanine Library (Biblioteca Joanina), named after King John V (1707–1750), whose portrait hangs on the wall at the far end. It comprises a row of three adjacent rooms, with bookcases all around and balustraded balconies going around, half-way up. The two-foot thick walls help to ensure a stable environment. The hardwood bookshelves deter insect pests, and these are further controlled by colonies of bats. Every evening, before the bats come out, the staff cover the furniture with leather sheets, and in the morning they clean up the guano. Janet rejoined us while we were in there. (Photography was not allowed in there, so I have lifted some images from the internet.)


Joanine Library on the upper floor — images found on the internet


Joanine Library on the upper floor — images found on the internet


Joanine Library on the upper floor — images found on the internet


Joanine Library on the upper floor — images found on the internet


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 16:48:06
Entrance portal of the Joanine Library

Our 75-mile journey from there to Porto took us back past the Aqueduct of São Sebastião. We set off a little before 5.00pm, and arrived a little after 6.30pm.


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 17:00:14
Views from the coach: Aqueduct of São Sebastião, Coimbra


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 17:04:04
Views from the coach: roadside tiled mural, Coimbra


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 17:04:04 (detail)


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 18:25:18
Views from the coach: crossing the Douro River by the Arrábida Bridge into Porto


Wednesday 19 September 2018 — 18:25:24
Views from the coach: crossing the Douro River by the Arrábida Bridge into Porto

The Porto Palácio was a strange looking hotel, with a framework of girders outside, giving it an unfinished look. I picked up two key-cards, each in a little card folder, one for each of us.





“We went to our room and I unpacked,” Janet wrote, “then we went for dinner. I was too tired, really, to bother, but I needed something to eat. It was quite a good spread. We were back in our room around 8.30pm. I had a shower, then updated this [journal].” When we got up to the room I opened the window, but the room was still too warm; closing the window enabled activation of the air-conditioning, but this was somewhat lame, and less than completely effective. There were two sinks in the bathroom, which was just as well because the metal plug of the one that Janet used was jammed, so the sink could not be emptied. The shaver socket in the bathroom wasn’t working, so I plugged the shaver into a socket in the opposite wall using an adaptor, and shaved with the cord stretched to its fullest extent so I could look in the magnifying mirror mounted near the shaver socket. I managed to log in to the hotel Wi-Fi (19:17) and was taken initially to the Porto Palácio web-page (19:20). Checked e-mail accounts (19:21). There were no usable stairs down from our third-floor room, so we had to use the lifts. The only stairs were emergency ones, at the bottom of which was a closed door with a push-bar, the operating of which would trip an alarm. Janet commented: “This is a very claustrophobic hotel. Also, I do not like all the bloody mirrors. Everywhere. Very disconcerting at times. The corridors are barely lit and there are no stairs for us to use. Everything is ‘shut in’. So many things wrong in our room. The shaver socket and one of the sinks don’t work. The safe is too low down. The shower is crap.[iii] Etc., etc., etc.” Dinner for the Riviera party was provided in a large basement room, with a buffet at one end and large round tables. This was the only thing at the hotel, about which Janet was able to make a positive comment: “It was quite a good spread.” Staff came around for drinks orders; I had a glass of red wine for €4, and Janet a Coke Zero for the same price. Janet was scathing in her journal: “We paid four euros for [John’s] glass of red wine, and four euros for a [mere] 200ml bottle of Coke Zero. Outrageous!” Back in the room, I… transferred 150 photos (128, taken today; and 22, taken yesterday after the 91 that I’d already transferred yesterday) from the camera to the WD Elements HDD (21:16–21:22). Viewed them with Windows Photo Viewer and rotated 20 that needed it (21:25–21:30). Moved the aforementioned 22 to yesterday’s folder. I went to bed, ca.10.20pm; Janet was already there.

[iii] Rotating one of the controls one way would bring water out of a fixed overhead shower head; rotating it the other way would bring it out of the tap for filling the tub, unless you pulled a knob which would send it to an adjustable and removable shower head.

[Thursday 20 September 2018]