Saturday 9th January

Today we headed off to the city of Coimbra, and drove around a few times trying to find a parking spot our book recommended from a street name and a photo. We can’t wait to get Tom Tom back, as he is perfect for times like these. Paul had contacted us and was sending back a repaired Tom. We had arranged for him to send Tom to a town in one of the national parks back towards the Spanish border. We were going to head that way for some walking and as it also had Portugal’s only ski resort, hopefully a bit of skiing. I know we must be hooked, already wanting to ski again.
We eventually found the parking spot, that had now been made an aire, by the river opposite the old city and headed off for a walk around. All the towns seem to be built on hills, so off we went up small cobbled streets. Ended up going round a museum (Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro) that was two underground levels of a Roman Crypt, built half way up a steep hillside. Our guide leaflet said that this would have been the foundations of a big Roman forum. Then off for a drink by the river, before heading back to the Motorhome to get on the internet. A sign at the aire had stated Wifi, but there wasn’t any we could pick up. We were finding it very difficult to get access to the internet with our Laptop in Portugal. Even in their McDonald’s car parks we don’t seem to be able to connect.