Living it up in Coimbra

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Living it up in Coimbra

“Porto works, Braga Prays, Coimbra studies, and Lisbon gets the money” goes the saying, and as far as Coimbra is concerned, this is totally true. The main city in the central region of Portugal, Coimbra has about 100,000 inhabitants, including the nearly 23,000 students that makes it the second largest of the 15 public universities in Portugal, as well as the oldest and the best, according to national rankings.

All trains from Portugal and Lisbon stop in Coimbra-B, a station far from the city center. Your ticket includes a 5-minute connection to Coimbra-A, the station in downtown Coimbra. From there you can get around on foot, although the city is divided in “Alta” and “Baixa” (high and low), and it can be tiring to climb up and down in cobblestone streets. When visiting Coimbra, leave your high heels at home. If not walking, you can take buses and trolleys (wired electric buses).

It was a hot afternoon, so we started with a visit to the “ribeira”, getting ice-cream in the fancy terraces of the new park on the banks of the Mondego River. Then we crossed Ponte do Pedro e Ines, a tribute to the love affair of a king-to-be and a courtesan. On the other side of the river, in the area called Santa Clara, we visited Quinta das Lagrimas, a fancy hotel and spa which is also a historic site. There is Fonte das Lagrimas, where the legend says you can see the blood tears from the mentioned love story.

We then drove up, passing the main Rua de Sofia street and visiting the campus of the University of Coimbra, in Alta. School had started this week, so it was crowded with freshmen and there was a lot of traffic. The famous library, as well as the chapel, were already closed, but we visited the Law Faculty and entered an old classroom, as well as we enjoyed a privileged view of the bell tower. The owl-shape of the tower (symbolizing wisdom) is better seen from the Ponte do Pedro e Ines though.

A lot of student stories are kept within the University walls; like a sculpture of two balls which tradition says will fall if a male student graduates before losing his virginity, 125 steps of the monumental stairs the freshmen must go up and down as an initiation rite, many statues in which the capes of the school’s uniform are put up for newly graduates to climb and recover after their classmates torn their clothes and leave them naked (or just with their underwear if female graduates), and much more. With the current European crisis strongly striking Portugal, there’s a lot of protest graffiti as well. You will certainly need local students –or a savvy tour guide- to understand life in the University of Coimbra.

After enjoying great views of Coimbra from Santa Clara, we joined my friend’s family for dinner, in which I tried some great salmon and baked potatoes, as well as a tasty white wine of the region.

At night, we went to the area around Republica Square, where many students bar are located, briefly joined a party in the students association and then visited several bars in Alta (uptown). The atmosphere was that of a student town, with crazy nightlife and a lot of people drinking in the streets. We spent most of our time outside a bar right next to Se Velha, the old cathedral, as we had seen the new one (Se Nova) earlier.

In the morning we took an express tour in the old medieval center of the city, with narrow streets and all kinds of independent boutiques, food-shops, antiques and much more. We entered the main church by the city hall and saw the tomb of Portugal’s first king Alfonso. We crossed the walls of the second line of defense of the old city in Porta da Barbaca, got some souvenirs and ended the tour trying Pasteís de Tentúgal, a sweet and highly caloric pastry filled of a mix of eggs and sugar.

The morning ended and, soon after noon, we drove to the bus station, a 10-minute walk from the city center. There I took the bus to Lisbon, as my local friends Maggie and Marta advised. The trip is not much longer than by train (2,5h by bus, 2 by train), the landscape is beautiful and the cost is more convenient (bus: 13€ – 11,5€ students; train 19 to 22,5€, no discount). It was the end of a great adventure, Coimbra was beautiful!

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