Kings, Scholars and Rebels Self Guided Tour of Coimbra

Order coffee beneath the soaring vaults of a church that once served as a hardware store.

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Climb the stair locals call the Backbreaker and meet the bronze woman who once kept this city drinking.

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Step inside a medieval watchtower where a doomed poet scrawled his name and a fado museum now whispers.

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Look up at the crenellated parapets of the only Portuguese cathedral still dressed for battle.

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Descend beneath a bishop's palace to the largest Roman structure in Portugal, built to flatten a hilltop

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Cross the stairs Salazar built as a showcase and students turned into the stage of a national protest.

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Pause under the iron gate every Coimbra student passes through twice, once to begin and once to burn.

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Enter the courtyard where Portugal's first dynasty of kings was born and where rectors are still crowned.

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Meet the two bat species who have worked the night shift among sixty thousand rare books for centuries.

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Notice the armillary sphere above a chapel door that hides one of Europe's loudest Baroque organs.

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Duck through the last surviving Moorish gate in Coimbra and find the legend of a princess carved above

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Spot the Friar Killer whose statue rules the square where medieval traders paid their toll to enter Coimbra.

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Linger on the bridge that has joined the two sides of Coimbra in three forms across five centuries.

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Explore the ruins of a monastery the river swallowed, founded by a queen who turned bread to roses.

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Wander the gardens where a royal romance ended in murder and a fountain still holds her tears.

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