[ Nov.2014 ] The old part of Coimbra in Portugal is on the hill next to Mondego river.
It is the third largest city in the country after Lisbon and Oporto.
Coimbra is famous as a unversity town, but from the early 12th century to mid 13th century, it was a capital city.
Because it is on the hill, the town is full of slopes and stairs.
Not only here, but most of the old Portuguese towns are on the slope of hills.
The towns with a lot of slopes are nice to look at, but it is difficult to walk around.
We went up slowly, thinking that the people who are born and brought up here must have strong legs.
The inside of the old town was like a maze as other old towns in Europe.
Although the hotel person gave us the direction to the main attractions on the map, we could not reach there on the day.