Everything is up and down in Coimbra

Who has a way that works for finding elevations on Google maps? I walked from our guest house to the old center of Coimbra on a scouting mission for Kathryn's fabric shop-hop tomorrow. 
I learned in the process that, when going anywhere in a Portuguese hill town, if you are going away from or at a right angle to the river, always take the uphill path. Always.
Yesterday we started downhill to follow the shortest route. It wasn't. It took us away from the direction we wanted to go. I mean, it looked good on the cute little free tourist city map you get at the front desk. So I spent six euros on a fold-out map from the gas station. Same deal.
This town is like some places in Arkansas . . . if you don't know where you're going, you don't need to be there. Finding a flipping street sign is a challenge right up there with . . . well, I'm not sure what, but it's a pain. And the GPS in your cell phone. Uh-uh. That damn thing had me going up and down the same stairs (there are LOTS of stairs in this town) three times. GPS says I'm 150 feet away . . . I think it's on the other side of a Black Hole.
On the other side of that, everybody I asked for help was gracious about offering it. One fellow pointed me down a street, then headed me off at the parallel intersection when he realized I'd made the wrong turn. Another time I was standing in a quiet road intersection, trying to figure which way to go, and a little sparrow of a lady walked up, stopped, raised her finger to get my attention, and waited for me to ask my question. I asked; she pointed; I thanked her (that's pronounced "obrigadu") and . . . took the line that headed uphill. 
The old part of Coimbra, especially the University, is medieval. There is NO WAY to go in cold with a GPS and a printed map and get where you're going without half a dozen wrong turns. It's amazing. It was frustrating, and I can't wait to go in again. It's positively magnetic. It is built in all three dimensions. Look at these photos and the videos. . . . And about the videos - the one with the Romanesque architecture is the westworks of the old cathedral, built in 1139. 
Tomorrow I'm going to find out if several of the fabric stores we located online are closed, as in "out of business," or if they just papered their windows over the weekend.
My route today covered 4.85 miles . . . on a two-dimensional map. And the topography feature says the upper and lower ends of the walk were only a hundred meters apart. Uh, I call bullshit.
Anyway, I'm home again. I found another aqueduct, and I found a park that was installed at the direction of the Marquis de Pombal, the architect who laid out Lisbon, and I found the Botanical Gardens. There's a lot, as in "a lot," of wistaria here. We're having an Enchanted April in Portugal. We haven't had to deal with a one-horse carriage ride at night in the rain, but I did get rained on in my peregrinations. It wasn't a downpour, just a gentle soaker.
Y'all, this is so freaking cool.
I figured Kathryn and I are G.U.N.K. . . . that's Grown Up, No Kids. And it's great. I went exploring afoot; Kathryn stayed at the guest house with her writing and her sewing. Fair's fair.
And Life is good from my window seat.

04/24/19  photos to follow

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