This post about Coimbra is part of a series of posts about the same trip. See the summary of this trip by clicking in the article below:
May 15, 2024 – Wednesday
We spent the day walking around the Penacova region and in the late afternoon, we arrived at our hotel in Coimbra. We booked the same day Hotel Oslo, which had parking, good reviews, a central location and, best of all, a beautiful view of the city from the rooftop. We paid 97 euros per night with breakfast.
I didn't really like when we stopped in front of the hotel because the facade is quite ugly, but I found it very tidy inside and the service was quick too. We left our bags in the room and went out on foot to explore the city.
Since the hotel is in the lower part of the city, we had to climb some stairs to visit the Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral, in that order. Some, not many…lol. We did everything in a hurry because it was almost time for the churches to close, but fortunately we managed to visit both. Both are worth it!
Old Cathedral
New Cathedral
Through the streets of Coimbra
Then we sat in the restaurant Backslapping to have a snack before our show Fado in the Center And when the time came, we went in to watch. What an incredible show, guys! It's really worth it. Fado from Coimbra is always sung by men and has always been a way for male students to declare their love to their ladies. It's so romantic, so profound... I loved it!
We left the show and tried to have dinner at the restaurant recommended by my mother-in-law, Tapas and Snacks Boutique, but it was crowded. We ended up going to the Bigger Fangas, which is also on this nice street with knitting hanging, and we were very satisfied with the food and service.
We went out walking around the city at night, but we were surprised at how empty it was. The city only seems to be open during the day, you know? I thought it was strange. Since this was our first time in Coimbra, I told Celo to try to go to the banks of the Mondego River to see if there was anything cool to see, but when I asked a waiter, he told us to avoid the area at night. It's definitely not like Porto, where the Ribeira is super nice both day and night.
We returned to the hotel, enjoyed the rooftop with the beautiful view of the city and then we went to rest.
May 16, 2024 – Thursday
We had breakfast overlooking the city, packed our bags and checked out, leaving our bags inside the car that was in the private parking lot across the street.
We set off on foot again, climbing the many stairs and seeing every little street in the city. I had a very bad impression of Coimbra, because I found everything dirty and with a lot of graffiti, as well as many empty/abandoned houses. You can feel that it is a university city, you know?
Speaking of the university, we walked to it, which is at the top of the hill, as we had scheduled a visit to the famous Joanina Library for 11:20 am – you have to book in advance because it fills up!!! We paid 13.50 per person and visited the library first, then the Chapel of São Miguel and finally the Royal Palace.
I fell in love with the beauty of the three rooms in the Joanina Library! It's worth every penny, but be aware that you can't take pictures inside. I found it interesting that they explained to us that there are bats that roam the rooms at night to help control insects in the books, and that there are also cats that help maintain the heritage.
The Chapel of São Miguel is also impressive, just look:
Finally, the Royal Palace was also a great place to visit. With its imposing rooms, intricately carved ceilings and views from the balconies, we rounded off the tour with a flourish. We did not visit the other places included in the tour. tour because it would be too rushed to have lunch and then travel to Cascais to pick up the children from school.
We ended up leaving there and going straight to lunch at Tapas and Snacks Boutique, which is lovely and has delicious food. I just didn't like having to pay in cash at the end because the card machine was having problems. Suspicious...
We left there straight to Cascais and arrived in time to pick up the kids from school in the convertible car. The reunion was a great party and we even enjoyed the beach with them before heading home. A total success… I want more!!! 🙂
Other trips through Central Portugal
If you are interested in touring this delightful region of Portugal, take a look at our tours through from this link.
These were some of them:
- 3 days in Fatima, Batalha, Alcobaça, Tomar and Nazareth
- 3 days in Figueira da Foz, Obidos, Buddha Eden and Lourinhã
- 9 days through the Center and North of Portugal
- 4 days in Central Portugal
