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Central Portugal, Portugal

The trip from Porto to Tomar was a journey of good news/bad news:

Bad news: van wouldn't start again.
Good news: someone in the caravan park had a large battery that helped us to jump start the van. 

Good news: from Porto we drove to Coimbra - chilled out, attractive, lots of uni students. 
Bad news: Coimbra was all hills and, as I was still sick, walking around town completely drained me.

Bad news: van wouldn't start again. We could not find a mechanic in town.
Good news: there was a tyre shop that sold car batteries and stocked one in our size (our battery is massive).

Bad news: it cost €155 (over A$200).

Good news: Danny knows more than me about engines, and he was able to replace the battery without difficulty.

Bad news: we installed the battery, turned the key, and... nothing. Just that familiar "click" that we dread.
Good news: Danny turned the key for a second time - it worked! The van started and was back to normal.

Good news: from Coimbra we drove to Tomar, stopping on the way at Conimbriga, one of the largest set of Roman ruins in Portugal.
Bad news: ruins were closed.


Good news: van started again first time.

Bad news: Tomar was unremarkable apart from a huge river and lake in the middle of the town. That's it.

Good news: we drove up a hill to the Convento de Cristo, home of the Knight's Templar in Portugal. It was basically an enormous, run-down castle with several gardens full of fruit trees, plus great views over Tomar. This was probably the highlight of our day.

It's nice to end on good news.

Convento de cristo, tomar, portugal
university, coimbra, portugal
convento de cristo, tomar, portugal
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