A top tip from a friend sent us off on the direction of Coimbra. A university city where you can visit the library, palace and chapel – all now part of the university.
St Michael’s chapel is elaborately tiled and has an enormous organ, meant for a slightly larger church when originally built.
We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Joanine library, but it’s lots of lovely old books on impressively ornate shelves. They have two resident bat colonies in the library who sweep the rooms at night, ridding it of insects that might munch up the books.
We grabbed some lunch with the students and lecturers in the canteen. And after a wander in the botanical gardens we went to see the palace. The main room in the palace is an impressive hall (still used for important university ceremonies today) which used to be the King’s throne room and has a beautifully decorated ceiling.
It was raining quite hard as we left the palace, so we just had to stop at a bakery for hot drinks and treats, before a sprint back to the van 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️ With its hills, river, painted houses and university buildings, Coimbra reminded us of Bristol and made us feel right at home.