Arrgh! Bats, bats, bats.

Wednesday 25th April

I'm having trouble remembering what day of the week it is but awoke this morning to the realisation that it is Anzac day at home. Today is red carnation day, or freedom day, in Portugal celebrating the peaceful coup in 1974 which saw the end of dictatorship. It is a public holiday and kids are home from school.

Today we visited the university town of Coimbra which was a 1 ½ hr bus ride. The town is sometimes referred to as the city of bats. ??? You ask??? The students all wear a uniform – black suits (skirts for the girls), white shirts, black ties and over all of this they wear a black cape. There are apparently other universities in Portugal and other European countries where this is de rigeur also. I can't imagine Melbourne university students doing this. They also carry a black satchel which is supposed to hold all their personal stuff including books. Today the students were out celebrating their graduation.

Bats - students carry a satchel with a
coloured ribbon on it which indicates
their area of study.

And more bats.

The students were out celebrating and around
the city there were different performances taking place.

We visited the main buildings of the university, which started life as a palace, and of course visited the main cathedral in the city.

The main university square. When we entered here we all reached
for sunglassses as all the buildings were white limestone
and with the sun shining the glare was painful.
Actually I noticed that a lot of the students wore dark glasses
- they obviously learned this early.

Beautiful ceiling frescoes in the university chapel.

The best part of our day out was lunch. Started out a bit ho hum – an Irish pub, squeezed into an old Portuguese tram suspended on the third level. We were grouped with the Norwegian group who spoke some English. The food was not up to the standard of the boat but was quite ok, but after a few bottles of red the lunch turned into great fun with us having a singalong with the Norwegians. This seemed to break the ice for the rest of the trip and we started to mix a bit more.

The singing tram.

You've all been waiting haven't you?
Dogs of the day.

Tonight was the gala dress up dinner. I thought it would be really dressy but surprisingly not a lot of people went all out – I thought the French would make more of an effort. More excellent food – I'm glad the cruise is not longer or I'd come home with a new french wardrobe and I'd be dieting forever.