On the bus transfer to Porto, the lunch stop included a tour of Coimbra, Portugal’s oldest
University town. The library (a beautiful old one and not the one students use
today) is cleaned in a novel manner. All the wood carving is covered with
plastic sheeting, a whistle is blown and then bats go about their work of
eating the termites which are trying to eat the paper of the precious books.
The guide claimed that this happens every morning, raising several questions.
Where are the bats during the day? How do they find the time for all the
covering and cleaning up? What is the whistle for?
The students in Coimbra appear to wear gowns more
often than most students, but there is a suspicion that this is just for the tourists.
Lunch included a Coimbra-style Fado performance.
On arrival at the boat, the Viking Torvil, there
was very little time for unpacking and changing before the safety drill (very
short), the daily briefing, the drinks reception and then dinner. Wine with
meals is included in the package and the service is very generous, including a
glass of port at the end of every dinner. Dinner was excellent.
After the meal, the captain took the boat for a
short tour through Porto, to the Atlantic Ocean and back to the mooring space,
giving everyone an opportunity to see the illuminated city and its many bridges
of various vintages.
The boat is the newest in the fleet and everything is
well designed and probably the result of much market research. Plenty of
storage in the cabin, including a large wardrobe space. But the shower room is
tiny and Diva (who really wants a bath) is struggling. The other issue is the
complex light system. No light has a simple on/off switch and dimming processes
are involved. The same sequence of switches does not appear always to give the
same result. The lights were on all night because neither could work out how to
switch them off. Over-engineered.
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