Nepenthe

and we'll never see the end of it ;)

Thanx to La Historia con Mapas

Visiting a college town can sure bring back memories: dorm living, late night studying, partying to excess, roaming the campus dressed like vampires. The vampire apparel may be less familiar if you didn’t attend the  University of Coimbra , founded in 1290 — making it one of the world’s oldest continually operating universities — and still one of Portugal’s most prestigious schools. Through the centuries the university developed a set of customs and traditions collectively known as “praxe,” which among other things governs the use of the official university uniform that consists in part of a black cape, giving students a strikingly vampiric appearance. At least that was my delighted take during my three-day visit to Coimbra (pronounced ko-EEM-bra) in December. Some sang drunkenly on their way home from Christmas gatherings; two approached me to ask for a 1 euro (about $1.30) donation to help pay for floats for the  Queima das Fitas , the May festival that is the city’s...