At the top of the hill (right side) is Coimbra University - Portugal's oldest (Europe's 3rd oldest) and is considered their Oxford. So it's pretty much a college town. Today happens to be their graduation celebration - which is super fun for us to observe - but means everything is closed. We walked the hills and saw a lot of things from the outside.
And then we headed up to the University.
All over the town are students and their families. All the students are wearing black suits. Students who are staying in school but celebrating finishing the year wear capes - More of a punishment on a hot day like today...
Students who are graduating wear top hats and carry canes (Mike calls them pimp sticks). We tried some covert photos.
The different colors represent their field of study - yellow is medicine, light blue is computer science, red is law, orange is psychology.
Later there will be a parade with floats. They were all lined up on campus at the top of the hill.
If you look closely you can see the kids on these floats have ribbons in their hair or tied around their heads - after the parade - they will have a ribbon burning ceremony - a 50 year old tradition.
There was lots of singing, chanting and beer being poured over heads. I think we're in for a rowdy night!
Nice hats! Did you stay for the parade?
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