Portuguese intellectual forge

Aveiro - the Venice of Portugal ... the boats resemble each other, but that's about it. Aveiro has a few beautiful art nouveau houses and is located on a river delta. The Romans already liked that -> Aveiro is therefore an old trading city. The salt produced there was used immediately to preserve the freshly caught fish. And then the refrigerator came ... and now Aveiro is not as rich anymore. After visiting the city, we continued inland.

Our next stop was the former capital of Portugal and one of the oldest universities in Europe. Where did J.K. Rowling get inspired for her Harry Potter? ... In Coimbra.

The university, founded in 1290, is the oldest university in Portugal and is housed in a former palace. The entire campus is so extensive that we spent the whole day there. It's worth taking time to visit the Curiosities Museum and the scientific laboratory, have lunch with the professors in the cafeteria, keep an eye on the narrow time window for visiting the library, take a look at the church, and finally visit the palace with its venerable rooms. Being appointed a doctor there is certainly a very special feeling, even if you don't arrive with the 'Nimbus 2000'. But what impressed me the most is the fact that for years, two colonies of bats have been living behind the shelves in this old venerable library. They help eliminate insects that could otherwise damage the books. The large oak reading tables are protected from droppings in the evening with leather cloths.

We spent the night on the idyllic beach of the Mondego River ... It was exciting to watch cormorants fishing in the morning. Weaving the nighttime alarm of the beach bar into the dream was less so. We had to move the car because we ran out of dream fabric for background noises after 1 hour.