Coimbra, a town of Traditions

What a day! Coimbra concentrated all the best parts of Portugal into one city. We walked up the steep hill to Coimbra University where our 1st stop was Biblioteca Joanina, a baroque wooden library from 1717 with approx 70,000 priceless, historical documents and first editions. Very Harry Potterish, with bats that enter at night to get rid of any insects! The tickets were for a 20 minute slot but only 10 minutes in the actual library, only 60 people at a time, the bats get far longer !
Next we visited the Royal Palace, home to the Portuguese royal family from 1385 till about 1537 when the University of Coimbra was established here. Similarly St. Michaels chapel, originally part of the royal palace, is now part of the university, this chapel is decorated absolutely beautifully!
We went through Se. Nova (new cathedral) built around 1600 which was more striking than Se Velha (old cathedral) built around 1100. Coimbra was originally a walled or fortified town and there is still several big sections of the old town wall to see, and a large part of the town aqueduct.

This afternoon we entered a maze of cobbled streets admiring the old and colourful terrace houses (and eating gelato) we ended up at the Rio Mondego and its riverside parks. On our way home we passed several groups of student's, most in formal black university gowns, singing Fado songs. Fado is the haunting lovelorn songs originally sung by the lonely male students to woo the local women. The students still wear the formal dress during all of the time that they are attending Coimbra University, it is clear to see how JK Rowling was inspired.Read more