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Historical Neighbourhood Sights

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Upper Town
- Coimbra, Portugal
- Sights › Historical neighbourhood
Long a Moorish stronghold and for a century the seat of Portugal’s kings, Coimbra’s upper town rises abruptly from the banks of the Rio Mondego. The most picturesque way to enter Coimbra’s 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 that it was the 19th-century writer Almeida Garrett who persuaded the mayor to install the stairs.
To the left up Rua Sub Ripas is the grand Manueline doorway of the early-16th-century Palácio de Sub Ripas; its Renaissance windows…

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