Coimbra

Woke up to a beautiful morning so had another stroll and coffee around Aveiro before heading off for Coimbra, around 110km south-east, Turned off toll roads on Google maps to get maybe a more interesting drive to Coimbra. I have since found out that there doesn’t seem to be a mid range between toll roads and back lanes as we were sent down some rat runs to get here. Still only took around 1 ½ hours and we could check straight in. Nice apartment in a great location, adjacent to the bridge over the Mondego River into the old town. Coimbra is renowned as having the oldest university in Portugal, dating from 1308. A main feature of the university is the Joanina Library, a Baroque style library completed in 1728. The library holds 60,000 books dating from the 16th to 18th century. Students can still put in requests to borrow items, dependant on how valuable the book may be, however they are not read in this library but another part of the university. We did a guided tour of the university and library, no pictures allowed in the library but a lot of information passed on. After the tour we explored a bit of the old town, had a beer and watched the world go by and dropped into a couple of churches. Dinner in the Baixa district of the old town and our day was done.Read more