"Coimbra" a Coimbra Travel Page by joebarcas

We arrived Coimbra on a Saturday afternoon. We found our hotel, the Hotel Astoria quite by accident. ( I had NO luck following maps or road signs in Portugal!) Our rooms weren’t ready yet, so we had lunch in the hotel dining room, something I normally don’t like to do, but we didn’t want to explore too much yet. Lunch was terrific. My wife had black pork, Esterlita had beef medallions, and Greg and I both had wild Boar in a berry sauce.
We got to our rooms and knew immediately we made a good choice. See my review under hotels for Coimbra.
We left our hotel and went over to the Visitors Center. Very nice young lady answered all our questions, couldn’t recommend a place for Fado, but she did mention 1, handed us a map, and off we went. We walked up the R. Ferreira Borges This is a pedestrian walkway, full of interesting shops, café’s, and such. There are several other walkways the run parallel, and some that intersect. A little ways up on the right is an archway (I can’t remember the name of it). If you go through this arch and continue up the hill, eventually you will come upon the University. The courtyard of the University is magnificent, as are the views of the city. Students wear their traditional black robes and are happy to talk with you, asking as many questions as you are asking them.
We took a cab back to our hotel (very reasonable). While some of us rested, the rest of us set out to find a local market to pick up some wine, cheese, bread, whatever for dinner in our room. On the way, we discovered that there was some sort of bagpipe festival and parade going on. A lot fun.
We had a lovely dinner in our friend’s room, on the balcony overlooking the Rio Mondego. Afterwards, we went out and stopped at a local café for dessert on our way to a Fado club. It was called aCapella. What a great night. I have a review listed.

Portugal DosSunday we walked across the river then uphill to the Santa Clara Anova church and visited the Portuguese Military museum. Nothing was in English, but it was obviously a history of the Portuguese military. Nothing special to see, but very inexpensive.
On our way back across the river, we stopped at “Portugal Dos Pequenitos”, a lovely attraction in a park like setting geared towards kids, but interesting for everyone. They have scaled down reproductions of significant monuments of Portugal and other countries. They are large enough to stand in. Very well done.

Once back on the other side of the river, we took a boat tour on the river. Lasted about an hour. Nice, but no guide giving information about what we were seeing. Afterwards, we explored a bit before having dinner again in our room. Out afterwards to the café for coffee and dessert. Then to bed, anticipating our next stop: Evora.