Aw. Our last day in Pinhao. Stretching out our stay as long as possible, we take our morning walk through the vineyards – today in clearer weather with the gorgeous reds and greens and yellows of the vines in clear view.

Then it is back down the railroad tracks and through town – finding all sorts of little fun flowers and statues, taking one last picture from the rooftop patio – then packing up and heading out to Coimbra – the last stop on our Anniversary tour.

It is a beautiful day for our drive up into the hills, through little narrow village streets and then out into the forest on our way to Mazes, where we hope to hike for a few hours before moving on to Coimbra.

We easily navigate to Mazes, not so easily finding a parking spot, but managing to stuff the car into a spot on the side of the road across from the bus stop. Following our Wikiloc trail map, we begin our odyssey walking up, up, up the steep and narrow cobblestone streets of the village. How does anyone drive up here, yet alone get their car into their garage? No way we’d ever do this – it is gorgeous here – but navigating the walk is hard enough! Forget driving.

We climb higher and higher – with no end in sight. And while the views are beautiful, we don’t want to continue to try to navigate up these steep hills that aren’t seeming to lead us to the abandoned shepherd’s village as promised in all the reviews we have read.

So we reverse course, down, down, down the steep cobblestones, eventually retrieving the car and heading on South towards Coimbra.

Good move, as we find out we can check in early to our apartment – and we have at least a 2 hour drive to Coimbra – which is absolutely stunning and well worth the detour as we drive through the mountains on little narrow lanes without another car in sight.

An easy 2 hours later we arrive at the wonderful “Postcard View” Coimbra apartment on the top floor of a mixed use building with more space than we would ever need and a huge totally equipped terrace with, yes, indeed, postcard views across the city!

Luggage stowed and groceries organized, we still have virtually the whole day left for us to go and explore the town – so off we go, past cool old buildings, the church square with the Christmas tree already decorated, the wild looking Fonte de Manga and the Monument to the Dead of the Great War of Coimbra – before reaching the Botanical Gardens, our afternoon walk destination.

Founded in 1772, the Botanical garden has 19 acres of Forests and 10 acres of what they call “classical” gardens and is an absolute delight to wander through. Entering through the main gate, we meander around some of the formal gardens before heading down into the “woods.”

Here we find the bamboo forest and St. Benedict’s Chapel – built in the 17th century as a ‘casa de fresco’ (coolhouse), it was converted into a place of prayer when the Benedictines took over – as well as some wild carvings and statues situated along the side of the pathway.

Reaching the end of the gardens, we are back out on the city streets, now down at the river level, traversing our way back to the apartment past a Trolley switching station, the square with the Joaquim Antonio de Aguiar – a prominent politician in the early 1800s who issued a decree to have all religious orders transfer their property to the state, thus beginning a secular society – and on past other interesting facades (literally a facade!) of buldings.

Later that evening, we wander over to Refeitro da Baixa, a restaurant located in an old pottery factory, dating from 1824 (and it is actually still functioning as a studio/factory today), for a wonderful dinner in a beautifully rustic setting, with a table in the little alcove that was once where the kiln was located. Totally appropriate!

Everything is pottery focused – from the setting to the menu – great art and design! We start with Croquetes de Rabo de Boi (Oxtail Croquettes), then Lulu, a squid dish for Ed, and Presa de Porc, a Black Pig Tusk dish for me and a side of broccoli to share. Oh, so good – I don’t know how we will ever be able to cook for ourselves at home again! We will be missing all this great food so much!

A quick walk home brings us to our fabulous terrace, all lit up for the night and a stunning view up to the old city of Coimbra. A perfect place, and perfect way, to finish off our evening.