Day 3. Coimbra – a little history and a little rest

Coimbra

After the Douro, I went to Coimbra. After driving for a few days, I already wanted to slow down a bit, and this city was perfect for that. Coimbra is known for its ancient university, but I enjoyed even walking through the streets, climbing and descending stairs and trying to understand why in all beautiful European cities the landmark must be somewhere at the top.

I quickly discovered that Portugal is generally quite generous with lifts. At some point, I stopped looking for a convenient way and just accepted fate for what it is: if there are stairs ahead, then today I have fitness. But after the walk, you could safely sit in a cafe, drink coffee and watch the locals pass by, completely not understanding why tourists have been photographing an ordinary door for five minutes.

For me, Coimbra has become a kind of pause between the north and the central part of the country. Here, for the first time, I felt that traveling stops being a race for places on the map and turns into just living in another country. How beautiful it is here in spring!