Coimbra Sunday 12/15/2013

COIMBRA

We went next for lunch along the highway on our way from Lisbon to Porto.
Codfish, potato, onion, fried squares.  Very tasty
A creamy soup
Lots of wine.  I drank the red mostly.

We sat with a doctor from Toronto and his wife.  Both had started in Hong Kong.  He travels all the time.  He is semi retired and works about 3 days a week.  We talked about naming children.
They had some say in their grandchildren's names, and she had lobbied for "Elizabeth." 
They had arranged their own rooms in Lisboa for less money than Viking booked and still met for the tour.  He recommended Smart Tour for South America.

While one guide said that 85% of the population were Catholics and so the churches were full, another said that only one third of the country actually practices the religion.  I had heard that Catholicism was easing off in Europe, but continuing to grow in Central and South America. 
Wikipedia says 81% are Roman Catholic but only 19% attend mass and take sacraments with more wanting marriage and funeral services.  This seems to match the progression of Roman Catholicism in most of modern Europe.  It is funny because I base my sense of Europe on immigrants and families that came to the US and build the large churches that I saw as a kid. Both the East side (Polish) and the West side (Italian) of Buffalo were full of practicing Catholics.
From reading around I see it is very difficult to really know how the Catholic church is doing in Portugal.  Here is a recent article

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/international/pope-finds-catholic-church-losing-portugal-as-a-stronghold


The town of Coimbra welcomes the students and the culture of the town works to accept them.  The school has uniforms, religion, and is quite disciplined with great respect for tradition.






As we headed into Coimbra we learned that rice is grown here. 
We came in along the Modego River.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondego_River

King Denis is celebrated here because as well as being a farmer advocate, he was well educated and promoted the university as well as arts and literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_of_Portugal

This is one of the oldest continuously working universities in the world, having been first ratified in 1290.
This is a university town; one third of the town are students. But it is much different than what we think of here in the States.  The students are conservative, wear the uniform capes, and are proud of all the symbolism.  This is one of the students who graduates this year.
There are many customs in the capes.

Here Jacqueline who came from Brazil has sewed patches that reflect parts of her life that are important to her like patches that represent Brazil.

The cape is cut in unusual and symbolic ways.  Before graduation it is cut by the teeth, family making cuts on the left and friends making cuts on the right.  If it is cut in the back it means the student has a lover, a longer cut means a serious lover.  Jacqueline is going to be married so she has a long cut. 
Sometimes small one night stand cuts are made and then sewn up when the relationship goes awray.
Students in Portugal go to Primary School from age 6-age 10.  Then they do 2 years of preparatory school and 6 years of Secondary schools.  A national exam as well as report card grades allow them access to University.   The state determines the tuition.  Just now it is 1055 euros per semester.  Students who do not have the funds can qualify for scholarship.   Most go into Medicine, Law, or Engineering.

When students graduate the big ceremony is the burning of the silk ribbons described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queima_das_Fitas
It might be fun to come back for that in May.

The university is very old.  1290.

The place is discussed in great detail and photographs of the square we visited are much better on this site than they were to our camera with limited lenses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Coimbra

  

Note the distinctive colorful tile roof, unusual in Portugal.  I thought it was delightful. The red and green celebrate the colors of the Portuguese flag.

The square itself was interesting and the views were spectacular. 

 Our guide showed us a staircase called the "Latin staircase" because once a student is on it, only Latin can be spoken.  She said the students often called it the "silent staircase"

http://viajar.clix.pt/tesouro.php?id=478&lg=en&w=university_of_Coimbra

We saw the Faculty of letters and visited the huge old library which is really now a museum.  The Joanina library was very ornate and impressive. .  It is now really a museum rather than a working library. Massive shelves of very old books in an antique like setting. The climate is such that it helps preserve the books.   I suppose the romance of being in a huge library is slowly passing with the electronic age bringing all libraries right in the hand of the reader.  But I am still delighted in books. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblioteca_Joanina

There are 24 bats that live in the library and so keep down any insects or such that might come in when the door is open or through small holes.  That was a strange use of bats, but I suppose these will not be subject to any diseases.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/bnbo7t

Biblioteca Joanina

The movie, Name of the Rose, based on Umberto Ecco's novel set in Italy was filmed in part in this courtyard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Name_of_rose_movieposter.jpg

They thought about using it for some of the Harry Potter films, but that did not happen.

I wished I could photograph the ornate posts that supported parts of the structure.  They narrowed near the bottom, expanded to wider at the top and then held interesting scroll like pieces.
They can be seen here.
POSTS

The ceiling was deceptively painted to look vaulted when it was flat.  No amount of looking could convince us that this was painted on a flat surface.

Elizabeth's credit card fell out of her purse near the library and a kind young woman and her man returned it to Elizabeth.  Ironic.  All these days of our taking precautions against pick pockets and we when we falter, we stumble into honesty.

ON OUR WAY OUT
On our way out we stopped for lunch and some Fado music. 

Codfish, potato, onion, fried squares.  Very tasty
A creamy soup
Lots of wine.  I drank the red mostly.

We sat with a doctor from Toronto and his wife.  Both had started in Hong Kong.  He travels all the time.  He is semi retired and works about 3 days a week.  We talked about naming children.  They had some say in their grandchildren's names and she had lobbied for Elizabeth.  They got rooms in Lisboa for less money than Viking booked and still met for the tour.  He recommended Smart Tour for South American travels.  We were not to see them very much over the rest of the journey. 

As part of the performance after lunch we sang along to an old Faco folksong that tells about Coimbra having more charm when saying goodbye.  The mournful tune well reflects some of the sense of Fado which works somewhat like the older Blues in the US to sing personal troubles.

I'm on my Facebook singing this along with our guide and two others. 

The three women were wrapped in a traditional cape and I was nearby.  My guide swept me into the swaying.  It was fun, but my performance was inadequate.  For one thing, I had only written the lyrics phonetically on the bus on the way and I had some of that wrong.  Here is one version.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=222356404612384&id=120666608114698

My friend Fatima, who was born in the Azores and is fluent in Portuguese, sends these along as the actual lyrics.
She writes:

Here are the lyrics to the song: Coimbra Tem Mais Encanto sometimes called Balada Da Despedida ( The Goodbye Ballad )

1-Coimbra
tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
2-Que as lágrimas do meu pranto
São a luz que lhe dá vida.
3-Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.

Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.

4-Quem me dera estar contente
Enganar minha dor
Mas a saudade não mente
Se é verdadeiro o amor.

5-Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.

6-Não me tentes enganar
Com a tua formosura
Que para além do luar
Há sempre uma noite escura.

7-Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.

8-Que as lágrimas do meu pranto
São a luz que lhe dá vida.

9-Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
9-Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida.
Coimbra tem mais encanto
Na hora da despedida

Thanks, Fatima.
link to this song on you Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsqQXQ6H7dU
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In Coimbra I saw these hotels:
Hotel Astoria was right on the river.  I'd like staying in Coimbra.
Trip advisor reviews

Hotel Bracama
Hotel Oslo
Almeidina Hotel

http://www.almedinacoimbra.com/en/content/hotel-almedina