Got up at 0640 to catch the 0740 train to Porto. Essentially the reverse of the trip 3 days ago, but this time all the way to Porto.
At the counter they said they could only sell me a ticket to the border, Tui/Valença, and then I should buy a ticket to Porto from the conductor. Interesting, the Portuguese CP had no problem selling a ticket all the way to Vigo the other direction.
Gaining an hour this time, so this milk run of a train takes longer than it seems. Lots of folk travelling between towns for whatever reason, shopping, school, etc. Arrived in Porto 3 hours later at 0955. The next train to Coimbra was at 1052 so I had time to get a coffee and a Portuguese tart at a pastry/coffee shop. Yum!
Fortunately the second leg was on an Intercidade (IC) and only took an hour. It was packed, pretty much every seat was taken. Coimbra B is such a small station, you'd think you had arrived at a country town. It's out of the city because the fast train could not go into the city. Had to look around for the bus stop, then ask a gentleman there if I was at the right one to go into the old city. He was kind enough to indicate to me where to get off.
Coimbra's Praça da Republica and the university are uphill from the river. Reminded me a bit of Perugia where the upper town is nice and cool. But today is a scorcher and walking was hard work. More so as I made a couple of wrong turns looking for the Grande Hostel. There are heaps of young people at the hostel because they have just started the academic year and they are staying in the hostel temporarily until they find accommodation. A couple are Erasmus students, like a few I met in Porto. Remember Romain Duris in The Spanish Apartment? He was an Erasmus student too. One of the Erasmus students I met confirmed that the ton of paperwork the film depicts is not made up.
Now I just have to keep staying up later for the next hyperjump.
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