Coimbra; Saturday, 15 February, 2014

If the previous evening had been foul then the morning after the night before was, as so often is the case, glorious. The sun was shining, an almost clear blue sky and a massive breakfast buffet after a lovely long lie-in.

Having gorged myself I went back up to my room, packed and then headed down to Santa Apolónia station to catch the high-speed train up to Coimbra.

The train passed through the Portuguese countryside, vast swathes of which were flooded, but this didn’t appear to effect the service (unlike the UK) with the train pulling into Coimbra-B station 5 minutes early. Consequently I had an even longer than planned wait at Coimbra-B for the train down the track to Coimbra-A station in the centre of town.

Having walked from the station and checked into my hotel I headed out into town to do some exploring.

I had a long wander through the old town including taking in parts of the old city walls as well as both the Old (12th Century) and New (16th Century) cathedrals and the university district.

Having avoided a couple of sharp showers through diving into cathedrals or random university buildings at fortuitous moments I headed back down into the newer part of the city and across the river to have a wander along the flooded river bank, before taking quite a few photos of the historic city centre from the pedestrian bridge that links the two banks of the city.

I headed back to the hotel to freshen up before heading back out for a very pleasant dinner in town and a quick stroll along the riverside to take some night shots of the city before heading back to my bed.