Portuguese language course in Coimbra
from 05 to 12 October 2024
Saturday
The arrival of the Portuguese course participants was scheduled for 5 October, with some delays caused by the weather in Porto.
A warm welcome from our Portuguese friends awaited us in a charming restaurant on the outskirts of Coimbra.
What a good meal! What a lovely evening!
Sunday
Sunday was full of discoveries in Leiria and its castle, with access via the funicular railway overlooking the city and its stadium.
A royal picnic organized by our hosts at Barosa Park provided the opportunity for everyone to get to know each other.
We continued on our way to the monastery of Batalha followed by the beach of São Pedro de Moel, where we discovered a sea that was rough but so magnificent and healthy with its iodine air.
Monday
Monday was the start of the course and a time of discovery for beginners. After a good meal in the canteen, we set off to discover the imposing University of Coimbra.
Through its charming alleyways, we entered the beautiful and mysterious Sé Velha, a model of Romanesque art in Portugal, and continued on to the beautiful church of Santa Cruz.
Our friends from the CDCR group put on a magnificent evening of traditional dance and song -
it was magical!
Françoise & Thierry Légier, Lyon
Thuesday
On the second day of the course, together with our teacher Helena, we worked on the vocabulary for all the different types of shops, services and places we find in a town. Then we continued with the vocabulary of directions to describe an itinerary. To finish the morning, we read the text ‘A VIUVA E O PAPAGAIO’ (The Widow and the Parrot) by Virginia WOOLF, which helped us to revise all the direct and indirect personal pronouns.
In accordance with the custom at every lunchtime, we took the opportunity to enjoy a delicious meal with the Portuguese staff at the CTT (correios telegrafos e telefones).
In the afternoon, we visited the Roman Museum at Condeixa (museu Portugal Romano em sico), which traces the Roman presence back over 2000 years.
The visit continued with the ruins of the famous site of Coninbriga, an ancient Roman city that was the prosperous capital of Lusitania. This city contains the remains of a Forum, an amphitheatre, thermal baths and dwellings.
The excavation of these ruins was made possible with the help of volunteer students from the University of Coimbra. In antiquity, the city was supplied with water from a spring a few kilometres away.
The day ended with a great view of Coimbra by night.
Wednesday
We continued our Portuguese course, practising character descriptions and discovering Roman idioms and expressions following our visit to the museum yesterday.
At lunchtime, we took advantage of the facilities at the CDCR DOS CTT to play ping pong with other European twinners.
Afterwards we visited Portugal and its former colonies in less than 90 minutes! We discovered the famous COIMBRA museum: Portugal dos pequenitos, which is a miniature representation of the famous sites of the country and its former colonies (Cape Verde, Macau, Sao Tome, Guinea, Mozambique, Brazil, Timor and a few enclaves in India).
In particular, we had the pleasure of recognizing the Batalha Monastery and the University of Coimbra, which we visited during our excursions.
We continued our afternoon with a visit to the medieval monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha (see photo), which was subject to frequent flooding from the River Mondego. This led to the creation of the new Santa Clara-a-Nova monastery on the hill above. The medieval seminary has been under renovation since 1991.
We ended our visit with a performance of Coimbra fado based on the academic traditions of its university. Coimbra fado is unique in that it is sung exclusively by men.
Fado is a melancholy musical genre based on themes such as saudade, unfulfilled love, jealousy, nostalgia for the dead and the past...
Simone Flach, Bonn & Jacques Reynier, Narbonne
Thursday
oday we were cutting out and colouring in clothes for mannequins. We also learnt and compared sayings in the 2 languages.
The sunny afternoon gave us the chance to dip our toes in the ocean on the wide beach at Barra. We then went on to admire the pretty, colourful houses of Costa Novas, before finishing off with a lovely walk in Aveiro: a magnificent, bustling little town by the sea, known as the Portuguese Venice.
Friday
This morning was even more difficult: the use of the past tense. The Portuguese language is making us suffer!!!
DThe afternoon was free to enjoy the streets of the beautiful city of Coimbra.
In the evening, a meal in the countryside rounded off the week.
The President of Eurojumelages thanked the hostess and her team for this impressive week and of course the two teachers Alvira and Helena for the interesting lessons.
In this restaurant, a group of former students (who have become friends) accompanied the evening with beautiful Portuguese songs and a delicious meal.
There was a warm atmosphere.
Marie Hélène, Narbonne
Até ja
Au revoir
Hasta la vista
Aufwiedersehen
Arrivederci
