Coimbra

This morning we took advantage of the yellow sight-seeing tour bus which conveniently stops just outside the main gate of the campsite and takes you straight down to the city.   

   

Hopped off just before the bridge to see the convent of Santa Clara a Velha (12^th C).  Its location right on the edge of the river Mondego became its downfall as it suffered from flooding right from its conception.  The church was redesigned with an upper floor added as the ground floor was already under water.  The convent was abandoned in the 1600’s and a new convent was built further up the hill.  The site has now been excavated by building a 20metre deep river defence wall.

Across the bridge and up the main shopping street we visited another church and monastery this time Santa Cruz which holds the tombs of the first two kings of Portugal, Alfonso Henrique and Sancho 1.  The monks at the church were the first tutors at the University of Coimbra.  

The old cathedral (12^th C) and new cathedral are also worth a visit - by the time we reached the university at the top of the hill we had visited 7 churches!

The tour around the old university is a must especially the Biblioteca Joanina.  An 18^th Century extravaganza – gilded woodwork and exotic woods adorn this library which holds over 300,000 books.  The streets were full of students in their gowns some looking rather red faced after doing their dissertations, we know this as part of our tour gave us a glimpse of the halls they were using!  

The city had a lovely lively feel to it and with so much to see there it was with very weary legs that we finally stepped back onto the yellow bus for our return to the campsite.