Lazy morning, our bus was at 2pm from the center of Porto to Coimbra, so we packed everything and headed to town a little bit early because we were not sure of how long it would take and if we had a bit of time, one of us really wanted to see the staircase of the bookshop (Livraria Lello & Irmão) by day. Which was the case.
You actually have to pay to enter the bookshop 3€ (but if you buy a book, they deduct it from the price of the book -> csqces: queue for the till was massive). This little bookshop was jam packed, and thus photos were not that great.
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| Crowded "Livraria Lello & Irmão" |
the famous staircase
Before taking the bus we bought some fruits, sandwiches and vegetables for the ride. And at 2pm we said our goodbyes to Porto.
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| Ponte Dom Luis I, from the bus heading to Coimbra |
Porto - Coimbra is less than 1h30. So we arrived in Coimbra under a beating sun with our backpacks and a huge hill to climb to reach the Hostel... Imagine 2 unhappy bunny! It took us 30min to climb up.
The hostel seems nice and the staff too, luckily our private room is on the ground floor (no more stairs!!). First thing we did was taking showers and getting changed. We rested a bit and then heading to town around 5pm.
We chose to go and see the University, this is what the town is famous for. In 1290 King Dinis founded a University in Lisbon, one of the world's oldest and most illustrious. In 1537 it was transfered to Coimbra It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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| did I saw no more stairs??? I was wrong... 125 steps to access the University |
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| Façade of one of the University building |
We bought tickets and managed to visit it before closing time, it was good because there was no crowds. We visited the Sala Grande dos Actos, room where major event such as graduations are celebrated, the chapel Capela de Sao Miguel and the Library Biblioteca Joanina, holds 300,000 books including really old ones. And we saw the Belltower and the Via Latina (colonnaded walkway).
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| entrance to the University |
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| The Belltower and the main building |
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| the Univesity from the far end of the place |
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| the Via Latina |
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| Sala Grande dos Actos |
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| view of the city from the University |
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| 3rd and last room of the library (picture taken from the internet) |
After visiting the University, we decided to visit the town and small narrow streets leading down to the river. We passed the Sé (= cathedral) but it was mass time so we decided to come back tomorrow to visit it. We looked for somewhere to eat while waiting for some free Fado concert in the street. Fado is an old music genre characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics.
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| Coimbra's Sé Velha |
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| Statue of Fado |
We found a really nice restaurant called "Tapas nas Costas", they were serving tapas, it was a bit pricy but delicious. After dinner we decided to walk it off by crossing the river and seing the city by night and cross an Architectural pedestrian bridge named "Ponte Pedro e Ines".
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| our dinner |
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| Coimbra by night (at the top the University) |
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| city view by night from Ponte Pedro e Ines |
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| Architectural pedestrian bridge "Ponte Pedro e Ines" |
In the end, we were way too tired to wait for the 10pm concert so we headed back to the hostel for an "early" night.
Slept in a private room at Grande Hostel de Coimbra.
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