Here’s to my first post of 2018, and look out for my thoughts on reading ONLY women authors for all of 2017! I’m currently working on that, but while it’s cooking, here is a post about how to see Coímbra, Portugal’s third-largest city, in 24 hours. Short and sweet, baby.
I visited Coímbra over New Year’s weekend with my family, so between arriving and getting settled, and then the next day being New Year’s Day, we only had one full day to see the sites. With 150,000 people, Coímbra is still compact enough to be able to walk everywhere without having to worry about public transportation, although most of the walking we did was either uphill or downhill–there wasn’t much in between. And with all the streets looking like this, it made the walking even prettier.
Coímbra’s main sites can be divided between religious ones (monasteries and cathedrals) and university ones (the 18th century Joanina library). We started out walking tour with the Torre de Almedina, which offered a nice view of the city and was once the entrance to the old town, before continuing on to the Old Cathedral, which featured tiles on the all the walls which were from Sevilla.
We then continued on the uphill walk to the university, but first we passed by this statue, which is dedicated to the women of the 19th century. I loved it and think it’s very fitting, especially in the times we are in now.
The university features one of the oldest libraries in Portugal, called the Joanina library. It features lots of old books (of course!), but also 18th century frescoes all over the ceiling, a bit Michaelangelo-esque. After leaving the library, we went to the main square of the university and also toured through the palace, which had paintings and nice views of the city.
After finishing at the university, we continued on to see the aqueduct that is still standing from Roman times. Although smaller than the aqueduct in Segovia (my favorite place in the world), it was impressive. Near the aqueduct we were also able to see the New Cathedral.
The only things left on our tour were two monasteries, the first being the Monastery of Santa Cruz, which is right next to the town hall and houses the tombs of Portugal’s first two kings. Make sure to get there early, as during the winter time it closes at 4:30 pm!
Our last stop was the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-velha, which is across the river and afforded beautiful views of the city from a distance. A short walk of only 10 minutes, the monastery stands below the street and also only opens until 5pm, so be sure to get an early start to the day to fully appreciate everything Coímbra has to offer!
If you find yourself with more time, say an extra day, Coímbra, an interesting day trip would be to the town of Fátima, where it was said that the Virgin Mary appeared to three Portuguese children in 1917. There is a chapel on the spot where she appeared, as well as an impressive church and a pyre to light candles in offering to her. Although some (like my father-in-law, haha) consider it to be just “business, business, business” to draw in tourists, culturally speaking it is worth it to see Fátima, along with every other place in the world, with your own eyes.
Go forth and take advantage of the new year to see a new place. As the Dalai Lama once said, “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” Honestly, I would prefer to append his statement to once a month, but do what you can/want to do!
