From Fatima we headed to Tomar in the pouring rain. So far we have had rain every single day that we have been in Portugal. The rain did not bother us in Tomar since we were visiting the convent of the knights templars. They later changed their name to the order of christ. The first part of this convent was built around 1153 starting with the church. This Templar stronghold is the biggest monument complex in Portugal. The church is one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. It was very interesting to see the different cloisters in different parts of the building each having their own unique styles.
From Tomar we headed to Coimbra. This was once the capital of Portugal. We had opted to take an optional tour of the university library. This is the oldest university in Portugal. They have two colonies of resident bats to help control the bugs that could infest the very old books. We did not see them. The walls had a lot of inlaid gold and carvings.
Since the rain had stopped we walked down the old city with our tour guide to the street where we were to rendezvous with the rest of the group. We had a quick lunch of toasted sandwiches with George and Geri. George treated us with pastel de nata for dessert. We checked in our hotel around 5.
We went looking for a place to eat supper with George and Geri but it was pouring rain so we quickly found a place that was not too far from our hotel since the rain was starting to feel through our clothes.
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