Leave the car parked!
by rexvaughan
I could have put this as a warning but it is not dangerous. I do not recommend trying to drive in Coimbra. For one thing, the streets are narrow and twisty and very difficult to find your way around. For another the streets do not all have large lovely signs like the one in my photo. In fact, if you get away from the old center it appears that some have no signs at all. Even if they do, they are too small to read especially in a moving car and it is worse at night. To illustrate my point, one night we set out in the car as my wife had a broken toe and we weren't sure how far our chosen restaurant was. I got lost very quickly, then got in the wrong lane which put me on a freeway crossing the river out of town. Once across the river I took the first exit thinking I could find a way to reverse direction. For the next hour and a half we wandered the dark, narrow, hilly, twisting streets of suburban Coimbra before finding my way back to the hotel. We gave up the restaurant that night but I scouted it out the next day and we walked to it from our hotel - about a 10 minute stroll! The old city is really easy to navigate on foot and there are alternatives to climbing the steep hills but an automobile is not a good on Probably our most enjoyable evening was at the restaurant I mentioned above, the Diligencia with it wonderful Fado singers. On the streets and at the TI you will be given fliers concerning Fado at "a Capella" which is a 14th Century chapel that has been turned into a piano bar. We did not go here but a couple at our hotel said it was very good.
Rua Ferreira Borges
by salinhopt
Coimbra is famous above all for its ancient university: one of the world's first. Coimbra consists of an upper and lower town. The bridge, Ponte de Santa Clara, crosses the Mondego River and leads onto the main square, Largo da Portagem, at its north-east bank. From here the lower town spreads out principally along the busy and happening Rua Ferreira Borges to the next main square, Praca do Comercio.
The student robes.
by cachaseiro
At the university of Coimbra the graduate students wear the traditional kinda robes that you see in many universities around the world.
In Coimbra they have a tradition though that they get little emblems to sow on their robes.
They will typically have one from their home town, one from their school, one from their best friend, one from their parents, etc.
And when they graduate then they cut the robe to pieces, so at graduation time in the spring you will see many pieces of black clothing lying around Coimbra, especially around the university and that is because the students just graduated.
river bathing
by arasnosliw
Although Portugal's economy is not as strong as other Western European countries, it is far from being classified as a developing country. I was rather shocked to see the amount of people bathing in the Mondego River. I'm talking about a full-scrub, not just swimming around. It was interesting to notice the underlying poverty even in such a charming city like Coimbra.
Botanical garden
by arasnosliw
Now most people miss the Jardim Botânico (Botanical Garden) for a reason....Too bad we didn't know that beforehand.
The garden is part of the University of Coimbra, and it is poorly maintained. It was founded in the late 1700s as part of the Natural History Museum. At a size of 13 hectares, it is small enough to explore in a short amount of time. I read somewhere that it is considered to be one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe, but I highly doubt that. I've seen many a beautiful garden in my life, and this was far from my expectations. Flowers at the garden were rather lacklustre.
The garden is divided into a terrace level decorated 18th century European style and an arboretum. I will admit I was impressed with the arboretum as they had a significant collection of worldly tree species. They even had species from Washington State (my home!) - now that was a surprise.
As soon as you walk up to that 18th century center fountain, you will notice it is covered in green scum. Who knows if they've ever cleaned the poor fountain! Look at the color of the water, now that's putrid isn't it? I didn't pay 2 euros to stare at pond scum all day...
Address:
Calçada Martim de Freitas
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University Library
Coimbra - Portugal
Torre de Anto (Coimbra, Portugal)
Universidad de Coimbra (Portugal)
