Our next stop was Coimbra, home to one of the oldest universities in Europe. Coimbra was one of our highlights as it is a fun, vibrant, and compact city. On the way to Coimbra we stopped in Vila Real to see the Mateus Palace. As we left Coimbra we visited the Roman ruins called Conimbriga.
Mateus Palace
The Baroque Mateus Palace, completed in 1744, is well preserved with original decorations, furniture and art. The larger estate is still intact including the surrounding gardens, fields, and vineyards. Diane is standing next to the washing basin used for laundry in the upper right picture. We marveled that, with all the nobility clothing changes and visitors, these basins must have been used non-stop. We are very grateful for washing machines.
Coimbra University
The University at Coimbra is the most prestigious in Portugal, and was founded in 1290. The Joanina Library is a stunning example of baroque architecture and the highlight of the visit. Unfortunately they don’t allow pictures, so you’ll have to go online to check it out.
The core of the university is in an old palace, so it has an interesting mix of history and decorations. The picture in the upper right shows a tradition of graduates who shred their gowns and shirts upon graduation, then tie them to the entry gate. The bottom two pictures show the academic jail that was used to punish students who broke the strict Jesuit rules in the era when they ran the university.
Museum of Curiosities
The natural history museum on campus was closed for renovation. As a replacement they pulled a bunch of artifacts from their deep historic collection and put them together in cabinets with no explanation or description. It was an interesting exhibit to explore, and in some ways more fun a typical natural history museum.
Republicas
Wandering the roads and back alleys around the university we saw a few Republicas (roughly equivalent to fraternity/sorority houses). They have a reputation for having “creative” art and decorations hanging off of their buildings.
Wandering around Town
The town itself is compact and fun to wander. Unfortunately school was not in session, so the town did not have the full energy of 25,000 students running about. The picture in the middle was taken on an alley dominated by knitting stores; they have fun decorations hanging overhead. In the picture on the right we have another candidate for narrowest house in Portugal.
Roman Ruins of Conimbriga
On the way to our next stop we went to the Coimbriga Roman ruins. Following Google maps we ended up on some back roads and drove through the middle of the site. It was a legit road, but it seemed odd at the time. They claim to have the best preserved mosaics outside of Rome, and they are amazing. We enjoyed exploring the ruins.
The Journey Continues…
Coimbra was one of our favorite stays in Portugal. The university is very interesting and the surrounding old town has many fun alleyways to explore. From there we continued South and went to Nazaré.