Arjun has been trying to roll our heavy suitcases on the cobbled streets in Portugal. As you can imagine, it usually leads to angst at the general state of things. So we told him that he can have a baby suitcase. One morning in Coimbra, we decide to go find one.

We walk along the cobbled streets and under the medina arch, a very moorish (Islamic) looking sand stone structure.

Coimbra is a university town and appropriately the streets have a lot of what you might call “leftist” graffiti. The grafitti is almost always very artistically done and on the crumbling old walls does add a lot of charm for the tourist’s eye.

I used google translate for a lot of the graffiti and it made for an amusing read. A lot of the university students wear their black medieval looking uniforms with a cape and walk down the streets. Leather heels clip clopping like a slowly trotting horse from the hallowed past.

To me it looks like a paradox that the grafitty painting students willingly wear a uniform. Perhaps, they have two separate camps of students. One that wear uniforms and walk purposefully and others that revel raucously at night and spray paint walls.

The suitcase shop turns out to be adults only. Arjun accepts it rather gracefully. As we walk back, I hear musing from a public park. We go in to investigate and see a large group of traditionally attired women and kids dance in a slow circle. An old man sings rather harshly and another more rotund man beats the drums. I’m not an expert in the arts, but to me it is reminiscent of a performing group from a hilly village.

Watching them is a great way to spend the morning. We clap enthusiastically when they finish. A more urbane family playing bagpipes follows. Arjun is very interested in the bagpipes and wants to give them something. We follow the bagpipe band as they walk slowly around and Arjun offers a dried leaf to to the girl. She really appreciates it and Arjun is also quite pleased.

We then wander around the garden and Arjun makes stone powder with a piece of chalky stone. I learn that some of the crowd has come from Lousa, a town 30 kms from Coimbra. Dhanya arrives with a yummy lunch of grilled fish and bruschetta. We picnic on the benches and appreciate the afternoon sun.