Things to do in Central Portugal
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Bike Lab
You can rent a bike from Bike Lab, 800m northwest of the centre.
reviewed
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Automóvel Club de Portugal
Évora has a branch of the Automóvel Club de Portugal.
reviewed
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Snack Bar 15
Simple but good food at bargain prices served up in a bright, modern café.
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Livraria Som das Letras
Attractive bookshop with a handful of French- and English-language titles.
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Silvano Manuel Cégado
You can rent a bike from Silvano Manuel Cégado.
reviewed
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Vinyl
Here student crowd does the soft shake to the predictable pop tunes.
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Casablanca
A charming side-street bar with movie stills of Bogie.
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Livraria Bertrand
One of a cluster of bookshops on Rua Ferreira Borges.
reviewed
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Geoaventura
Conducts rafting, kayaking, rock-climbing and more.
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Eborim Centro Comercial
This is home to the town's cinema.
reviewed
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Pingo Doce
Supermarket.
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Minipreço
Convenient supermarket behind Coimbra’s downtown train station.
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Transserrano
Leads adventure and cultural discovery tours in the nearby Serra da Lousã and Serra do Açor, including hiking, climbing and tours focused on traditional cheese-making and olive-oil production.
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Theatro Café Concerto Bar das Artes
Right next door to the movie theatre, this eclectic bar features jazz, classical music and weekend DJ sets running the gamut from electronic to lounge to alternative sounds.
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Swimming Pool
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Shots Bar
With eight shots going for €5, this is a popular place for students to start (or finish) the night.
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Royal Palace & Torre das Três Coroas
At the top of the upper town is the stark, glowing-white, fortress-like former royal palace, now the Pousada de Santa Rainha Isabel.
Dom Dinis built the palace in the 13th century for his new wife, Isabel of Aragon. After her death in 1336 (Dinis had died 11 years earlier) it was used as an ammunition dump. An inevitable explosion, in 1698, destroyed most of the palace and the surrounding castle, though in the 18th century João V restored the palace for use as an armoury. The 27m-high keep, the Torre das Três Coroas (Tower of the Three Crowns), survived and is still the dominant feature. It’s so-called because it was apparently built by three kings: Sancho II, Afonso III…
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Rota dos Frescos
Offers fascinating cultural tours led by an art historian to Baroque sites filled with frescos and azulejos (tiles). Every Friday in English at 10am.
reviewed
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Restaurante do Gil
Since buying this low-key neighbourhood tavern a couple of years back, experienced chef Gil has been lovingly converting it into a one-of-a-kind restaurant, featuring traditional Portuguese cuisine with a personal twist. There’s no menu; Gil decides what to cook and what wine to serve on a daily basis as he visits local markets. There’s also no sign – just look for the only restaurant on the downhill side of this backstreet below the Sé Velha.
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Quinta das Lágrimas
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.
reviewed
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Parque Dr Manuel Braga & Parque Verde do Mondego
Lovely green spaces stretch south from the Ponte de Santa Clara along the eastern bank of the river. Parque Dr Manuel Braga provides a haven of serene shade under stately rows of old sycamores, while the newer Parque Verde do Mondego, opened in 2004, features riverfront bars and eateries, a pedestrian bridge across the Rio Mondego and a small playground for kids.
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O Moelas
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Museu Municipal
This museum is housed in a beautiful 17th-century almshouse near the former palace. Pretty hand-painted furniture sits alongside endearing, locally carved wooden figures (charming rural scenes by Joaquim Velhinho) and a collection of typical 19th-century domestic Alentejan items. On the ground floor is an amazing display of the unique Estremoz pottery figurines – some 500 pieces covering 200 years, including lots of ladies with carnivalesque outfits, explosively floral headdresses and wind-rippled dresses. There's even an entire 19th-century Easter Parade.
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Largo da Porta de Moura
The Largo da Porta de Moura (Moura Gate Square) stands just southeast of the cathedral. Near here was the original entrance to town. In the middle of the square is a strange-looking, globular 16th-century Renaissance fountain. Among the elegant mansions around the square is Casa Cordovil, built in Manueline-Moorish style. Across the road to the west have a look at the extraordinary knotted Manueline stone doorway of the Igreja do Carmo.
reviewed
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Igreja de São João & Convento dos Lóios
The small, fabulous Church of St John the Evangelist, which faces the Templo Romano, was founded in 1485 by one Rodrigo Afonso de Melo, count of Olivença and the first governor of Portuguese Tangier, to serve as his family’s pantheon. It’s still privately owned, by the Duques de Cadaval, and notably well kept.
Behind its elaborate Gothic portal is a nave lined with glorious floor-to-ceiling azulejos created in 1711 by one of Portugal’s best-known tile-makers, António de Oliveira Bernardes. The grates in the floor reveal a surprising underworld: you’ll see a deep Moorish cistern that predates the church and an ossuary full of monks’ bones. In the sacristy beyond are…
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