St. Dennis Adventures

Coimbra has been called A cidade dos estudantes (The city of the students ) or Lusa-Atenas (Lusitan-Athens ), mainly because it is the site of the oldest and one of the largest universities in Portugal – the University of Coimbra, a public university whose origins can be traced back to the 13th century. Nowadays, it has students from 70 different nationalities; almost 10% of its students are foreigners, making it Portugal's most international university. Coimbra is about 90 minutes south of Porto and is where we decided to spend a day on our way to Evora.  Of course, being the home of the oldest university in Portugal, visiting the university was high on our list. The University of Coimbra was originally established in 1290 in Lisbon, and then moved permanently to its current location in 1537. On 22 June 2013, UNESCO added the university to its World Heritage List.

The Douro Valley could as easily be called the enchanted valley, such is the beauty and magic that its landscapes offer. Departing from Porto, where the river flows into the sea and where the Douro wines (table wines and Port wine), produced on its hillsides also end up, there are various ways to get to know this cultural landscape, listed as a World Heritage Site. We went by road ... and found many distracting stops along the way. For any wine to be called Port, it must be produced in an area in the Duoro valley. We took some backroad small highways and entered the valley down a narrow gravel road which passed several wineries and vineyards. The large clusters of grapes were hanging right there outside the windows of the car so of course, we had to stop and try some.  The grapes were very tightly clustered and we decided, after several samples, that the green grapes were by far the best grapes we'd every tasted The highway travels along the river and crisscrosses it s...

Porto , also known as Oporto in some languages, is the second-largest city in Portugal and was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as "Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar" . The history of Porto dates back to around 300 BC  Celtic people being the first known inhabitants. Ruins of that period have been discovered in several areas. In 1387, Porto was the site of the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; this symbolized a long-standing military alliance between Portugal and England. The Portuguese-English alliance (see the Treaty of Windsor) is the world's oldest recorded military alliance. Dom Pedro I (12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also became known as "the Liberator" as well as "the Sol...

Braga is a city in northern Portugal located about an hour's drive north of Porto. Under the Roman Empire, then known as Bracara Augusta , the settlement was the capital of the province of Gallaecia . Nowadays, Braga is a major hub for inland Northern Portugal. Braga is known as the  Portuguese Rome  or the  City of Archbishops  because of the faith of its people and the number of churches and shrines throughout the city and the surrounding territory. The  Cathedral of Braga  is considered one of the most important buildings in the country. It has been a national monument since 1910. We signed up for a walking tour of  Braga that promised to highlight the history of Braga and it did not disappoint. We started our tour at the semi-historic Arch of the New Gate (Portuguese: Arco da Porta Nova) . It is a Baroque and Neoclassical arch, designed by André Soares in the late 18th century and incorporates the original triumphal arch which de...

This morning we made the 3½ hour drive to Porto where we spent a couple of nights exploring the northern part of Portugal.   Along the way we stopped at a couple of religious sites that are home to some of Portugal’s most famous miracles. Santarém is a city in Portugal about an hour northeast of Lisbon. The city was founded by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. During the Roman period it was an important commercial post and, in 61 BC, Julius Caesar established a military camp there. After the decline of the Roman Empire in the 3 rd century, Santarém was occupied by Germanic tribes (Vandals and Alans) until 460 AD when the Visigoths conquered it. In the 8th century the city was taken over by the Moors, and it was later captured by the first King of Portugal in 1147 AD. Santarém city centre has several monuments, including the largest and most varied collection of gothic churches in Portugal. One of the most popular churches to visit is the Church of St. Stephen – Chu...

After arriving in Lisbon late in the day and getting something to eat at the cozy diner next to our hotel in the historic Lisbon Centro, we decided the next day's adventure would be a visit to nearby Sintra. We headed to Sintra from Lisbon’s Rossio Train Station, taking the 30 km ride to its historic center. The center of the Vila de Sintra was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its 19th century Romanticist architecture, estates, royal palaces and castles. On arrival in Sintra we boarded the local bus to get to the palaces overlooking Sintra. Along the way we saw the Palácio Nacional de Sintra (National Palace of Sintra), the Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of the Moors) and the Palacio Nacional da Pena (Pena Palace). We stopped briefly at the Pena Palace - a modern example of Portuguese architecture from the Romantic period which looks like it belongs in a Disney fairy tale. As a natural extension of the Palace itself, there is also a 200 hecta...

You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. - Samuel Johnson We stopped in London to spend a few days on route to Portugal. London is one of our favorite cities to visit.  It has a long history and is a fascinating place with museums, churches, food, and centuries of culture to explore. Over the years we’ve stayed in lots of different locations around London – from Knightsbridge, to Hyde Park, to Camden Town and many places in between.  This trip we found an Airbnb a few blocks from the Victoria Station.  It was a nice apartment close to many restaurants, bars, and markets. The first night we arrived we went for a walk around the neighborhood to familiarize ourselves with the area. Depending on our energy levels, we thought we might even walk the 20 minutes to Buckingham Palace. As we walked past Victoria Station, we sa...