Coimbra - (koo-EEM-brah)

After a hearty breakfast we set out to explore the University of Coimbra, the oldest (founded in 1290) and most prestigious university in Portugal with a student population of 25,000. The University is situated atop a hill with beautiful views and was once the location of a royal palace. We hesitated to participate in a tour of the campus because I had read that the students and professors resent having tourists on campus, and they do arrive by the busful. But since it was Saturday and there were no classes in session, we paid our €10 which gave us entry to the three remaining historical buildings. A 1940’s dictator tore down half of Coimbra’s old town to build the newer faculty buildings. Our first stop was St. Michael’s Chapel which was different from all the other churches we’ve seen because the walls are completely covered in tile. We had to knock on the Chapel door to be allowed in and then it was immediately locked behind us. Students are allowed to us the Chapel for weddings. Second stop was the King Joao’s Library for which we had been assigned a 10 minute appointment time. The 55,000 books in this 300 year old library are protected chemical-free by resident bats. No photos were allowed as in the past this had led to theft of the rare, valuable books. Our last stop was at the Grand Hall where doctoral degrees are presented in a formal ceremony. We were glad we had decided to take the tour.

As we were leaving the campus, we were approached by two young women wearing their student uniforms. They were offering hand-drawn postcards in exchange for a donation towards a “Burning of Ribbons” celebration that is a tradition when you graduate. They were graduating from Med School so we gave them a small donation in exchange for a photo.

Coimbra is very much alive with university students everywhere we went. One downfall to this is that the city is covered in graffiti and it doesn’t appear that anything is being done about it. We also noticed on Sunday morning the remnants of Saturday night partying.

John has another cold and is coughing and sputtering everywhere we go. I’m bracing myself for another onslaught of a foreign virus!Læs mere