We threw the script out of the window today. The script said that we were going to go down to Pedrogao Grande and look at the dam and find a beach and have another chill day, but what happened was infinitely better than that.
What happened was, we decided to have a day off from following the N2 and go across country for the 45 minutes it would take to reach Coimbra, one of Europe’s oldest universities and a place that I had heard mention of in just about everybody’s tale of their visit to Portugal. You know the one that goes ‘went to Lisbon, went to Porto and went to Coimbra’.
The drive through the hills is gorgeous. It follows the Rio Mondego and Kimberley and I feel happy just striking out in a different direction for the simple reason that we can. I don’t know about you, but I have spent a large part of my life stuck in doing what I thought I should do, rather than having the mental freedom of doing what I actually wanted to do. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem possible, and yet I look back now and realise that the person who was truly restricting me most, was me.
I have put into the satnav a big carpark at the bottom of the hill by the river and sure enough 45 minutes later we are parking up. We decide to walk straight up the steep hill to the old town to see the old and new cathedrals and also the university. The old town is fairly quiet except for some tourists just like us. It is of course the university students’ holidays, and I am sure that this place would have a real buzz if it was term time. It is only fair to say that at this point, given all the hype I’d heard, so far, I am truly underwhelmed by Coimbra. I hate graffiti and it is everywhere as we walk up the hill. Some of it is clever, some political and some looks like a young child with a crayon drawing on their parents’ wallpaper like some sort of rebellion.
The old cathedral is well……old. We continue the walk up the hill past a load of ongoing improvement works. They really are spending a large amount of money maintaining the old town. Eventually we reach the top and the entrance to the university courtyard. It is at this point that my whole visit flipped totally on its head. This courtyard is just amazing. Its view out over the city is awe inspiring. This would be a fantastic setting to come and learn. We find the library and the most amazing restaurant with views of the valley below but don’t stop. A visit for a future day when we have more time.
We find the new cathedral and then we take a long slow walk back down towards the new town. It is at this point we realise our entry into Coimbra probably couldn’t have come from a less flattering direction. We are now down in a square filled with cafes and dominated by both the municipal camara offices (city council) and the Igreja de Santa Cruz church and monastery which is just stunning. The funny thing is if we had come into town this way, I am not sure we would have bothered to go all the way to the top of the hill and gone to the university courtyard.
We travel back to Gois happy to have done something different with our day.
Night night all.