Roman Ruins, Wed, 10/13/21

Our Road Scholar trip examines Portugal's (and Spain's) history from Neolithic to the present, and the tales they may tell.  Nope, not a wine country tour, although Portuguese wine is offered at every meal except breakfast!  Many places we'll see are UNESCO sites, recognized as noteworthy for a particular reason.  This morning we're privileged to tour the Roman Ruins of Conimbriga, the most important Roman site in Portugal.  Maybe you're surprised, too, at their existence?  Or not.  Either way, we're lucky to have a local expert guide us through the archeological site and its mosaics.

Our early start meant long morning shadows on the ruins, not a good situation for most cameras, but we made do.  Our guide, at left, is giving us the low-down on what we're seeing, above.  These would have been homes for the upper class.  You see the wall in the back?  Conimbriga was an urban walled settlement that evolved sequentially and built up by successive layers, with the primary period of occupation beginning in the 9th century BCE.

Above are two large mosaic panels unearthed in 1899 and now on display for the public.  They would have been flooring in a rich home.  If I had a drone, I would've captured an overhead photo, showing how stunning each was.

More mosaic flooring for a "rich" home, in situ.

Although Conimbriga isn't the largest Roman city in Portugal, it's the best preserved.  Only roughly 17% of the ruins have been excavated.

Above and below.  The Romans had thermal baths with a network of stone heating ducts under the (now-missing) floors.

The House of the Cantabar (important aristocrat, like a governor) in the 5th Century was the biggest private residence in Conimbriga.  Something like 35,090 sq ft!

An aqueduct carried water from a spring about 4km away.

We all ooohed over the House of Fountains!  This was a great aristocratic residence, with wonderful mosaics, water gardens and fountains.  Construction dates from the beginning of the 1st century AD.  The cover was built several years ago to protect the mosaics.

A few details of the mosaics from the Casa dos Repuxos (House of Fountains).

After walking the grounds (and warming up after a cool morning start), we entered the museum, filled with finds from the excavations.

And then we posed for pics at the pond.

* * * * *

Next, the bus carried us to the City of Coimbra.  Most of us really enjoyed traipsing around the city.  Its historical buildings were classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2013:  "Coimbra offers an outstanding example of an integrated university city with a specific urban typology as well as its own ceremonial and cultural traditions that have been kept alive through the ages."

Pedestrians only.

Entering the historic old city through massive gateways.

Another resplendent cathedral (monastery).

Inside is an opulent organ with trumpet pipes.

Simply beautiful.  Especially up close.

Many streets are barely a few feet wide.

The four of us, Jimmy and I, Bernice and Ibby, looked around for a tiny cafe away from the tourist-y parts of the city and found the little place above.  Not knowing what the menu offered, we gave it a try -- Bernice and I each had the first starred item, which you see pictured.  It was delicious.  Dunno what was in it besides rice, beans and cabbage.  Don't want to know!  Dinky cups of coffee.

After lunch we visited the University of Coimbra.  First established in Lisbon in 1290 (!!), it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1308 or 1537, depending on which site you read. The university is among the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world, the oldest in Portugal and very impressive.  We saw so many young people in the city and on the campus, looking wholesome and energetic!  

I lifted the above pic from Wiki because you wouldn't believe the library (no photos allowed). It was beyond anything we've ever seen. A Baroque library, it was built in the 18th century and is part of the University of Coimbra General Library.  It's a National Monument and has priceless historical value. No touching anything. Some of the tomes were ancient.  Being inside was awesome.

Looking at previous university "chancellors."

We could enter the university chapel, which was as beautiful as any of the others we've seen, walled with tiles as above.  Check out the ceiling!

Overlooking the city and the Mondego River from the library's upper level.

White houses and red tile roofs.  Perfecto!

Like Energizer bunnies, we continued on.  Next we were invited to a Fado performance, and listening to singing/playing was a  highlight of the afternoon.  The fella in the middle was the singer, with an almost operatic voice (wow!); Portuguese guitar on the left has 12 strings, and guitar on the right is a regular guitar.  This Fado is unique to Coimbra and the university students.  In 2011, UNESCO granted Fado World Heritage status.

After such a busy and pleasing day (whew and wowzers!), the bus returned us to our hotel, the Conímbriga Hotel do Paço. Tomorrow we move on.

Lisbon, Tues, 10/12/21

 

Another full-to-the-max day in Portugal!  We set forth at 8:30am to visit Lisbon's Belem neighborhood, picking up our local guide, Lenora.  Portuguese navigators set sail from Belem on their expedition and "discovery" of India.  We were dropped off in a lovely park overlooking the Tagus River.  Wood pigeons picked at the grass beneath great Stone Pines, which are shaped like perfect half spheres with lush green crowns on short trunks.  Look 'em up, they're pretty neat pine trees.

In the park:  The first plane to fly across the Atlantic from Portugal.

A partial map of Portugal's look at the world back in Vasco da Gama's day, top left.  Whimsical figures dotted the giant round marble map.

The substantial (!!) Belem Tower was constructed between 1514-1519 to defend the Tagus River and the City of Lisbon.  Jimmy and I were standing far enough away that the tower doesn't appear too large ... but it is.  No, we couldn't go up inside.

We had to drive a bit further to get to this special monument, which celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery (Age of Exploration) during the 15th and 16th centuries. (Think Vasco da Gama, a name we're hearing often here, of course.)

In this statue, a stylized caravel seems to be setting out to sea, with Henry the Navigator in its prow.  Our guide, Lenora, told us names of all the people were with Henry, but I do not remember!

 

On our way to the next stop ...

... which was the National Tile Museum, housed in the former "Madre de Deus" Convent.  Here I took lots of pictures, probably too many if there is any such thing, because -- again -- this centuries-old building and its contents were beyond gorgeous.  How many adjectives can I use and re-use to describe these opulent or extravagant or awesomely beautiful castles and decorations?  Notice the cute tiled sign for the Tile Museum's restrooms!

Had to take a pic of this one!

Old and new styles.  Many from long, long ago.

And then we entered the former church and convent,

and all stood agape at what they saw.

The lower walls of the church were tiled as you see above, in these huge fantastic scenes.  We walked from room to room, admiring and ogling.

We moved outside the main church to access stairs to the next level.  Here we saw this cat and mouse tiled panel.  Kind of a strange-looking kitty!

I wish I could recall at least some of what we heard, but we move to fast with no time to jot things down, and I have too much brain clutter to retain our guide's words.  No matter, just enjoy!

Yup, it was real.

A section of the ceiling!

The opulence!

Looking down on the altar from the second level.

Gilt wood and tile.

After being overwhelmed by both the tiles and the convent/church, it was back on the bus to check out the Alfama section of Lisbon.  Pictures below.  Alfama is a neighborhood of steep and narrow cobblestone streets with lots of shops featuring traditional crafts, and cafes.

Jimmy, Ibby, and Bernice.

Once again to the bus for a short drive to Chiado, another old Lisbon neighborhood -- this time of the bourgeoisie of the 19th Century. We walked and talked and gazed at everything.  Left then on our own for lunch, we four found an off-the-beaten path cafe, and each of us enjoyed what we had. Jimmy had grilled chicken, Bernice and Ibby had grilled octopus, and I had grilled sardines. Yowza!

Finally, we were on our way to our new hotel, this one in Condeixa, roughly two hours north by bus and more inland.  So far we are liking Portugal.

  

El Calderon, Sat, 4/3/21

El Malpais means "the badlands" in Spanish, and is commonly pronounced el-mal-pie-EES, and this afternoon was our time to visit.  Roughly 15 miles from our campsite at El Morro, we were ready to see what El Malpais had to offer.  When I picture badlands, my mind sees South Dakota's badlands, but here in New Mexico, the word has a different meaning.  Think: lava flows.

Like the sign above says:  El Malpais National Monument protects many unique features -- lava flows, lava tubes, cinder cones and shield volcanoes.  We saw it all.

We should've guessed that the VC would be shuttered, but we were disappointed nevertheless.  So we continued driving, looking for something, we weren't even sure what.  All we saw was a rugged lava landscape.  Finally we came to an area that had a trailhead.  We pulled in, shrugged and said, okay, let's see what's happening on the El Calderon Trail!

As you might figure, lava is the predominant ingredient at El Malpais.

I wish my camera would capture the darks and lights better (I know, get a better camera), because it's tough to really see the depth of these lava caves.  They were immense.  We didn't go in any of them because they were closed, like the VC, but we didn't want to anyway.  Yes, that's snow in the rocks at the cave entrance.

Jimmy is standing by the Xenolith Cave, which an experienced caver can enter, it's entrance is nearest to Jimmy.  On the far side is a gigantic bat cave.  During the summer, thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats fly from the entrance of Bat Cave at dusk to forage for insects. They use this cave as a summer home and migrate south for the winter. Other bats, like little brown bats and Townsend's big eared bats, live here year round and hibernate in this cave; it's closed year-round.  Both these are parts of a lava tube system created by lava flows from nearby El Calderon Cinder Cone.

Bat Cave, top, Xenolith Cave, right.

The path itself was easy to walk on, not gnarly lava rock, but crushed sandstone.

Same stuff, different shades.

We continued walking on this trail, not sure what else was up ahead till a fellow hiker came by headed in the same direction.  "Where does this trail go?" we asked.  "To a cinder cone, really something to see."  Okay!  And there, behind Jimmy, is the cinder cone, with two people atop!

A bit of a climb to get to the top!

Aha, we made it!  These loose, pea-sized rocks are called cinders -- bits of lava that hardened as they were shot hundreds of feet into the air from a vent in the ground. As the cinders fell to the ground, they formed a cone-shaped structure around the lava vent. There were at least two main eruptions from this volcano. One created the black cinders, the other created the red cinders. The red cinders contain higher amounts of iron and oxidized as they were exposed to the air.

We could see a long way from the top.  The fellow we stopped to ask about the trail?  That's him in the distance, at the edge, relaxing from his climb.  He said it's his favorite place.  It was very peaceful.

My feet were getting tired.  Heck, we'd already done two miles in the morning.  Besides, the afternoon was warmer than I thought it would be -- I shoulda worn shorts. 

What goes up, must come down, down, down.

At the bottom of the cinder cone, the trail split three ways.  Since we saw no signs telling us which way to go, we trekked back the way we came, which made it a four-mile hike.

What a lovely day we had, tiring, but we appreciated everything we experienced.  After showering and dinner, we were treated to this WOW spectacle.  Fire in the sky!

Much, much later, toward early morning, I awoke to the yip-yip-yipping serenade of coyotes, which always makes me deliriously happy, though I couldn't tell you why.

We really enjoyed our stay at El Morro campground and our brief but fun explorations of both national monuments. I'm happy to add this to my "been there, done that" list rather than, "gosh, I'd like to go there someday."  Tomorrow we leave the road less traveled and hop on I-40, aimed for points east.  And, possibly consequences ....