COIMBRA TOUR – The City of Students (10h)
Discover in this tour of Coimbra one of the oldest Portuguese cities, full of history and academic tradition, where six kings of the country were born and the first university of Portugal and one of the oldest in the world was founded. Under the presence of the vibrant Mondego river, the “poets river” as the locals proudly call it, Coimbra is a city of narrow and winding streets, staircases and medieval arches, full of historical treasures to unveil and animated by its students in black capes, who sing the Fado of Coimbra to the world.
Come and see on this private tour the splendid University of Coimbra, recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO, which is located at the top of the hill and whose history is intrinsically related to the very foundation of the Portuguese nation. Founded initially in Lisbon, in 1209, by the king D. Dinis, the university was definitively transferred to Coimbra, in 1537, as established by the king D. João III, and it occupied an impressive building of Arab origins, dating from the X century, which was the first Portuguese royal residence. In fact, it was in this palace that the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, installed his court, having converted Coimbra into the capital of the kingdom.
You will visit the traditional Palace of Schools, the central complex of the University, with a breath-taking view of the Mondego River, standing out the Johannine Library, the most sumptuous library in Portugal and a masterpiece of the Baroque style, built in the XVIII century, under the aegis of the king D. João V, presenting more than 60 thousand volumes; the Academic Prison, a former prison site for convicted students, located on the lower floor of the Johannine Library; the Chapel of St. Michael, whose construction dates back to the XV century and whose walls are covered with tiles from the XVII century; and lastly the University Tower, its most popular symbol that best represents the students’ life, whose construction dates from the XVIII century. The bells ringing still mark the students’ rhythm, study and relax times.
After visiting the University, we will continue the tour and you will discover other highlights of Coimbra, such as its imposing Cathedral, built in the second half of the XII century, the only Romanesque cathedral that has survived relatively intact in Portugal; the Almedina Door, the main door of the city’s medieval walls, whose oldest traces date from the IX century; the magnificent Church of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, whose construction began in the XII century, being one of the national pantheons, where the first kings of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques and D. Sancho I, were buried; and, on the left bank of the Mondego River, you will visit as well the ruins of the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, founded in the late XIII century and abandoned in the XVII century, due to the frequent floods caused by the Mondego river, and the beautiful Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, which replaces the original cenobium, where the body of the Queen Santa Isabel, the city's patron saint, is venerated.
Come and discover Coimbra, the city that “is more charming at the time of farewell”.
From € 430