A Class Visit

Last year, at the end of the academic year, all students of Portuguese Language and Culture courses, teachers and I did a class visit to different places or museums in the neighbourhood and out of Lisbon, by bus.
The programme was established in this way; we met at 8: 15 am at the entrance of the faculty and we left at 8:30 am. At 9:30 am, we arrived at the “monastery of Alcobaça museum” and we reached the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria at 12:00 pm then at 2:15 pm arrived in Óbido and finally we arrived in Peniche at 4: 30 pm.
Once in the “monastery of Alcobaça” museum I visited the biggest or the most important monastery of Portugal. As you know, in the past this place was where Portuguese wise men lived and where they did the first translations of the bible into the Portuguese language. When we got in, I saw on the walls the statues of previous kings of Portugal. This visit was guided by a very friendly woman who was explaining things to us and answering our questions. And we were allowed to take pictures. I saw the translation rooms, the auditorium of the palace, the bedrooms, living rooms, and the throne which is still intact there in the same place even all the bathrooms are marbled. I suggest going to visit the Monastery of Alcobaça museum, because it’s symbolic for all, specially for translation students and to know better Portuguese culture and history.
Just after Alcobaça we went to the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, situated outside of the city, where I had lunch. This Institute is smaller than our faculty but there were trees around it. It’s very attractive with a nice dining hall on the veranda of the first floor, where we spent one hour and a half having coffee and contemplating the beautiful nature around.
Contrary to Alcobaça, the visit to Obidos wasn’t guided; everyone could go to see whatever he wanted. In fact, Obidos is a tourist place because of its decor. I noticed that there are a lot of handcrafted pieces from the middle ages. On that day, there were a lot of visitors in Obído too; it means that it's a touristic place. There were actors in the street, dressed like Romans or like people from the Middle Ages (like the king, his wife and his guards with their swords) and dancing to the rhythm of Portuguese melodies. You can also see the small castles up and down by the hills. And it was there where I tasted for the first time the Carpirinha with another kind of Portuguese local drink I don't remember the name. I recommend you visit Obido too, because you can find a lot of Art pieces and the strong spirit from the Middle Ages and Portugal in the 18th century.
And we finished our visit in Peniche, where I visited the museum of the Fortress. As Alcobaça, that visit was also guided. This museum was a jail in the past which Salazar built on the top of a small mountain beside the sea for the political opponents. From the prison yard you could see the sea and lots of small tourist boats hugged the long beach of Peniche and the sight was beautiful. Inside, things are very different; nobody could take pictures. We visited the cells of prisoners and we saw the big handcuffs. It was so horrible for me to see that I decided to get out of the cells. If you visit this museum and you are as sensitive as me, just stay in the prison yard and admire the nice sight of the sea.
When we left Peniche, we came back to Lisbon. We all were happy to do that class visit. It was the reason why on our return we were singing one by one in the bus. I still have some memories of that visit and I would like to do it again.