Things to do in Coimbra
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Á Capella
A tiny, 14th-century chapel transformed into a candlelit cocktail lounge, Á Capella regularly hosts the city’s most renowned fado musicians. The setting is as intimate as the music itself, with heart-rendingly good acoustics. Be forewarned that these shows cater directly to a tourist crowd, but the atmosphere and music are both superb.
reviewed
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Museu Acadêmico
The Museu Acadêmico, just uphill from Largo Dom Dinis, has some interesting displays on Coimbra student life, including vintage Queima das Fitas posters from decades past (especially noteworthy is the 27 May 1926 poster showing hordes of student revellers one day before the coup d’état that ushered in the Salazar era). The museum is also adorned with some grand azulejos (hand-painted tiles).
reviewed
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Casa Museu Bissaya Barreto
Bissaya Barreto was a local surgeon, scholar and obsessive hoarder of fine arts, and his handsome, late-19th-century mansion has been turned into a museum. A guide (not necessarily English-speaking) accompanies guests through rooms jam-packed with Portuguese sculpture and painting, Chinese porcelain, old azulejos and period furniture.
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Restaurante Zé Manel
Tucked down a nondescript alleyway, this little gem, which is papered with scholarly doodles and scribbled poems, is easy to miss. Despite its location, it’s highly popular, so come early or be ready to wait. Try the good feijoada á leitão (a stew of beans and suckling pig).
reviewed
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Velha Universidade
The Velha Universidade consists of a series of remarkable, 16th- to 18th-century buildings, all set around the vast Patio das Escolas. You enter the patio by way of the elegant, 17th-century Porta Férrea, which occupies the same site as the main gate to Coimbra's Moorish stronghold. In the square is a statue of João III, who turns his back on a sweeping view of the city and the river. It was he who re-established the university in Coimbra in 1537 and invited big-shot scholars to teach here.
The square's most prominent feature is the much-photographed 18th-century clock tower. This tower is nicknamed a cabra (the goat) because, when it chimed to mark the end of studies, …
reviewed
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Biblioteca Joanina
The Old University's library, Biblioteca Joanina seems far too extravagant and distracting for actual study, with its rosewood, ebony and jacaranda tables, its gilt Chinoiserie bookshelves and elaborately frescoed ceilings. The library was a gift from João V himself in the early 18th century. Its 300,000 books, ancient and leather-bound, deal with law, philosophy and theology, though they might as well be painted onto the walls for all the hands-on study they receive now.
Visitors are admitted in small numbers and on a timetable and some rooms may be closed during degree ceremonies. The turismo might urge you to book a few days ahead, but you still may be able to get in …
reviewed
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Núcleo da Cidade Muralhada/Torre de Almedina
Housed in the medieval tower directly above the Arco de Almedina, this new museum displays a plaster reproduction of Coimbra’s old town layout, complete with castle. A multilingual audiovisual presentation traces the fate of the many towers that used to line Coimbra’s walls, each lit in red on the map as its story is told. There are fine city views upstairs, but the real fun is looking down through the matacães (dog-killers), big holes cut in the watchtower’s stone floor, through which hot oil was traditionally poured on unsuspecting enemies below.
reviewed
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Sé Velha
Coimbra’s stunning old cathedral is considered to be one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in all of Portugal. Its crenellated exterior and narrow, slit-like lower windows serve as reminders of the nation’s embattled early days, when the Moors were still a threat. Since its construction in the late 12th century, the building has been only slightly altered. Even the 16th-century Renaissance portal in the northern wall is so eroded you hardly notice it. The austere majesty of the interior is broken only by a 16th-century gilded altarpiece.
reviewed
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Arco de Almedina
Long a Moorish stronghold and for a century the seat of Portugal's kings, Coimbra's upper town rises quickly and picturesquely from the banks of the Rio Mondego. The most picturesque way to enter its labyrinth of lanes is via Arco de Almedina - the city's heavy-duty Moorish gateway - and up the staggered stairs known as Rua Quebra-Costas (Backbreaker).
People have been gasping up this hill (and falling down it) for centuries; local legend says it was the 19th-century writer Almeida Garrett who persuaded the mayor to install the stairs.
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Museu da Ciência
This wonderful museum occupies a centuries-old former monastery converted by Pombal into the university’s chemical engineering building. With a couple of awards under its belt since opening in 2006, it features intriguing state-of-the-art interactive science displays coexisting with 18th-century lab sinks. Don’t miss the frogs-in-underwear display, the giant glowing globe in a room paved with medieval stones, or the psychedelic insect’s-eye view of flowers. Displays are English/Portuguese bilingual.
reviewed
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Café Santa Cruz
Few cafes in Portugal offer such an atmospheric backdrop. The interior, set in a dramatically beautiful high-vaulted former chapel, features stained-glass windows and graceful stone arch, while the outdoor patio area affords one of the city’s best vantage points over the popular Praça 8 de Maio. Popular with tourists and locals alike, the cafe periodically hosts free evening music events and talks. You’ll pay a bit extra here for the atmosphere, but it’s worth it.
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Portugal dos Pequenitos
Portugal dos Pequenitos, the brainchild of local collector Bissaya Barreto, is an impossibly cute theme park where kids clamber over, into and through doll’s-house versions of Portugal’s most famous monuments, while parents clutch cameras at the ready. There’s an extra charge to visit the marginally interesting mini-museums of marine life, clothing and furniture. You can also hop aboard one of the frequent river trips with Basófias.
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Igreja de Santa Cruz
This church plunges you back to Manueline and Renaissance times. Step through the Renaissance porch and flamboyant 18th-century arch to discover some of the Coimbra School’s finest work, including an ornate pulpit and the elaborate tombs (probably carved by Nicolas Chanterène) of Portugal’s first kings, Afonso Henriques and Sancho I. The most striking Manueline work is in the restrained 16th-century cloister.
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Zé Carioca
Set in a series of colourfully decorated rooms in a handsome old town house, this Brazilian eatery is both relaxed and elegant. The grilled meats, moqueca de camarão (shrimp stewed with coconut milk, tomatoes and cilantro) and caipirinhas are all superb. The weekday per-kilo lunch buffet is a good deal, as is the rodizio de carnes on Sunday afternoon (€11.90 for all the meat you can eat and still waddle home).
reviewed
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Gardens
Legend says Dona Inês de Castro met her grisly end in the gardens of this private estate. It’s now a deluxe hotel, although anyone can take a turn about the gardens and track down the Fonte dos Amores (Lovers’ Fountain), which marks the spot where the king’s unwitting mistress was struck down. Also note the sequoia tree planted by English hero the Duke of Wellington.
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Jardim Botânico
A serene place to catch your breath, the lovely botanical garden sits in the shadow of the 16th-century Aqueduto de São Sebastião. Founded by the Marquês de Pombal, the gardens combine formal flowerbeds, meandering paths and elegant fountains. The green-fingered can also visit the lush greenhouses and the adjacent Museu Botânico.
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Carristur
Carristur runs hour-long hop-on, hop-off bus tours of Coimbra with recorded multilingual commentary. The double-decker open-top buses originate near the turismo at Largo da Portagem. The bus ticket (available at the turismo and SMTUC ticket office, as well as at some local hotels) entitles you to a Basófias boat tour and free admission to municipal museums.
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Feitoconceito
Entered through the Tabacaria Pavão downstairs, this ultrahip hideaway near Praça da República is comprised of three colourfully lit high-ceilinged rooms. The intimate vibe is best appreciated when you’re sitting cross-legged on cushions at the low tables in the innermost room. Beers cost €0.70, and caipirinhas are €14 for a tray of eight.
reviewed
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Convento de Santa Clara-a-Velha
Slowly being cleared of the river ooze that has drowned it since the 17th century, this Gothic convent was closed for renovation at the time of writing. Founded in 1330 by the saintly Dona Isabel, Dom Dinis’ wife, it served as her final resting place until flooding and mud forced her to move uphill to Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova.
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Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova
Begun on higher ground in the 17th century to replace its flooded twin, this convent is devoted almost entirely to the saintly Isabel’s memory. Aisle panels tell her life story, while her solid-silver casket is enshrined above the altar. Even her clothes hang in the sacristy. Her statue is the focus of the Festa da Rainha Santa.
reviewed
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Museu da Cidade Edifício Chiado
This sunlit confection of rippling, coiling iron opened in 1910 as Coimbra’s largest commercial emporium. It now houses a gallery with a permanent collection of paintings, sculpture, ceramics, furniture and splendid silverware donated by local collector José Carlos Telo de Morais, plus temporary exhibitions.
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Cantinas
Cheap and filling cafeteria food abounds at the university’s student cantinas, off the courtyard of the AAC – one upstairs at the back (southern) end and one down a flight of steps on the eastern side. The downstairs restaurant generally has better food but is also more likely to ask to see student ID.
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Bar Quebra Costas
In the perfect position to sip a cold beer as you watch people puff and pant up the Quebra Costas, this Coimbra classic has a great terrace as well as a recently updated interior with sharp art on the walls. Thursday through Saturday there’s music into the wee hours, from chilled-out electronica to jazz.
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Café Teatro
With huge windows, minimalist decor and a long zinc bar overlooking leafy Praça da República, the cafe in the upstairs lobby of the university theatre is the place where alternative types congregate for their caffeine fix or first drink of the evening. Ticket-holders only during performances.
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Restaurante Italia
Cheery Italia serves reasonably good Italian food, but what really draws the crowds is its incomparable location. The sunny glass-walled dining room is cantilevered out over the Rio Mondego, while breezy outdoor tables bask in the shade of giant sycamores in the adjacent riverside park.
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