We visited Tomar and the St John monastry there yesterday. We were staying in a quaint Residental which was supposed to have internet but I couldn't get any signal. And where I am today in Coimbra it is so slow that I will add photos tomorrow.
The monastry and palace is splendid. It is on top of a hill with a wall all round. It's Roman origins were only hinted at by an uprooted tile floor. And the Moors weren't mentioned at all although they were there for hundreds of years. All has been sunk under the weight of Manueline and early Renaissance additions.
It was lovely wandering through the cloisters and chapels after the bus loads of tourists left. (One bus, from Spain, had wi-fi. How do they do that?) We tried to go to midnight mass but the church was closed at 10am, the advertised starting time.
After the glory of the Hospitaliers we went to the Musee de Phosphoros. I thought it might be a chemistry museum. But phosphoros are matches. This museum has 40,000 match boxes from all over the world. No two the same. A collectors paradise. And there were parcels in the office that looked like they were full of matchboxes that didn't fit into the museum.
Today we missed breakfast to catch the early train to Coimbra. Missing one meal will not hurt us. We have enjoyed wandering around the old university admiring the grand old buildings and the modern ones which fit in very nicely with the old. Jim had another library thrill at the Baroque Library which is truely magnificant. No photos allowed though.
As it is Easter Sunday most shops and restaurants are closed. And despite assiduous searching we have not seen any chocolate Easter eggs anywhere. No hot cross buns either. The sacrifices of travel . . . .
The monastry and palace is splendid. It is on top of a hill with a wall all round. It's Roman origins were only hinted at by an uprooted tile floor. And the Moors weren't mentioned at all although they were there for hundreds of years. All has been sunk under the weight of Manueline and early Renaissance additions.
It was lovely wandering through the cloisters and chapels after the bus loads of tourists left. (One bus, from Spain, had wi-fi. How do they do that?) We tried to go to midnight mass but the church was closed at 10am, the advertised starting time.
After the glory of the Hospitaliers we went to the Musee de Phosphoros. I thought it might be a chemistry museum. But phosphoros are matches. This museum has 40,000 match boxes from all over the world. No two the same. A collectors paradise. And there were parcels in the office that looked like they were full of matchboxes that didn't fit into the museum.
Today we missed breakfast to catch the early train to Coimbra. Missing one meal will not hurt us. We have enjoyed wandering around the old university admiring the grand old buildings and the modern ones which fit in very nicely with the old. Jim had another library thrill at the Baroque Library which is truely magnificant. No photos allowed though.As it is Easter Sunday most shops and restaurants are closed. And despite assiduous searching we have not seen any chocolate Easter eggs anywhere. No hot cross buns either. The sacrifices of travel . . . .
This church has a false front. The stone carvings of the old one have been sadly dissolved by the rain so they cleverly put another in front.
The royal appartments just off the graduation hall (everybody gets a doctorate from Coimbra) have a carpet that looks persian but is in fact embroidered with long cross stitch. It is typical of Portugal.
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