I was up early this morning. I was outside at 7 am and it was so dark you would think it was midnight. Jan stayed in bed until 8. We have been sleeping good and long every night. The Spanish and Portuguese live on a different schedule than we do. No one is up and around before 9. Breakfast will last until 10:30. They close the stores from 2 to 4 for lunch and siesta. Then they open until 8. Most people do not eat until after 10pm. Most restaurants are not open until 9pm at the earliest. That is a real problem for us because we cannot eat that late and then go to bed. We usually snack about 6, skip dinner and go to sleep around 11.
We were out of Porto and on the road south on the expressway. We first stopped at Costa Nova. It is a wonderful little beach town. It is off season and the beach was beautiful and with the exception of some surfers empty. The sand is perfect and clean. It reminded us of the southern California beaches, Huntington or Malibu, without the people. There are many summer cottages and high rises. It must be jammed in the summer. Jan even found a good collection of sea shells.
We then went to Coimbra. It is an old college town and before 1500 was the capital of Portugal. The buildings there are covered on the sides with tiles.
Then we went back to the beach and another beautiful beach town. Here all the houses were painted in stripes.
Before arriving in Lisbon for the night we stopped in an old fortified city, Obidos. They have kept it as it was in the 1400s (except for the shops). No cars are normally allowed in the town. It was a fun town to walk.
We are staying in the royal guard quarters next to the King's Summer Palace outside of Lisbon. I will have to get a photo in the morning.
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