Saturday 25 August 2012

To the Serra do Açor and back

We decided to take a two-day road trip which included lots of fun, too much good food and visits to a few interesting places.  I highly recommend a visit to the Universidade de Coimbra, especially the Biblioteca Joanina and the Chapel, if you ever find yourself in Coimbra.  The countryside and views from the hills are breathtaking (and pretty scary when going round the hairpin bends - our GPS lady kept saying "u-turn ahead"!!) so I took oodles of photos which I managed to whittle down into just three sets (four if you count the photos added to the "Clouds" set.

Conimbriga

Coimbra e Côja

Serra de Açor e Piodão

This was R's and my second visit to Serra de Açor and Piodão, the first time being in June 2007 when we were accompanied by my aunt and uncle.  Then, the village was recovering from flash floods which had gushed down the hill damaging roads and washing away everything in its path; it has all been rennovated and we were able to walk down to the river.  They have done a marvellous job and it was well worth this visit, even though it is now a bit of a tourist trap.  Mind you, this is August, the month when it seems the whole of Portugal takes their annual holiday!