Roman Ruins, old University & Fado Music

Our hotel tonight (Conimbriga Hotel do Paço) was once the Almadas Palace, a royal residence dating back to the 14th century. It underwent extensive renovation 30 years ago to turn it into an historic hotel.

This morning we had a short drive to the Roman ruins of Conímbriga. The site is one of the largest Roman settlements identified in Portugal. To date, less than 20% has been excavated. Romans occupied the site from the 1st century BC until the mid-5th century when they were pushed out by Germanic armies. The wall outlines of a few homes had been excavated, and some nice mosaic floor tiles were reconstructed, but most impressive was the Casa dos Repuxos (house of fountains). This was an aristocratic residence dating from the 2nd century AD, which was built with a complex lead-pipe hydraulic system that fed several fountains and ornamental pools. The house also has a rich set of mosaics depicting mythological, geometric and plant scenes.

We continued with an exploration of Coimbra, the first capital city of Portugal. There we toured the oldest university in Portugal, the University of Coimbra. The site was a former royal palace until 1290 when the king realized he needed to start a university to stem the brain drain of students attending foreign universities (on Portuguese funding) and then not returning home. We visited the university prison (for naughty students!), the library, chapel, and other palace rooms converted for academic use.

We then walked over to a local fado house for a performance of this traditional music of Portugal. This expressive, often melancholic Portuguese folk music tradition, is sometimes referred to as “Lisbon blues” because “fado” means “fate” and songs are often nostalgic or sad. Coimbra has their own take on this genre, using it for wooing lovers, and some of the songs were definitely on the more upbeat side. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take videos to share with you.Read more