Camino Portugues, Day 8, Coimbra

Day 8, Easter Sunday, 4/16   Coimbra

This morning we made tea in the communal kitchen of our albergue, packed up and left early.  We didn't find any markets open the day before so we had nothing for breakfast.  It was Easter Sunday so we wondered if anything would even be open.  At least we were just outside of Coimbra.  A big city should have something open.  We started walking and stopped at the first cafe we found that was open.  It had coffee and croissants but also was a doner-kebab place.  Soon Chantelle and Jean-hugues also arrived there.  Lorenz left earlier to go to the airport for his flight to Barcelona.  We wouldn't see him any more on this journey.  We said good-by to Chantelle and Jean-hugues because they were continuing on and we were planning to stay in Coimbra one night.  We would continue to keep in touch with Jean-hugues by email after this, but Chantelle didn't share her contact information with anyone.

It was too early to find a place to stay so we headed to the cathedral to attend Easter Mass.  Mass was just starting but the cathedral was packed.  We decided to come back to a later Mass without our backpacks and early enough to find a seat.  We walked around and checked some of the places that the guidebook listed but then saw the Hotel Oslo.  They were busy with checkouts going on, but the man asked us to wait a while.  He gave us an early check-in.  Such a comfortable room and we were able to catch up on laundry and have a good shower before heading back to the cathedral for Mass.  How special it was to be able to attend Easter Mass at Se Velha, the old cathedral, a Romanesque church built in the 12th century.  There is a new cathedral built not that far away, but it doesn't have the same feeling of history that this special place holds.

Se Velha, the old cathedral in Coimbra

 Coimbra is a huge, bustling town, overwhelming to us after spending the last several days in very small places where we saw few people.  It is the third largest urban center in Portugal, after Lisbon and Porto, and is best known for its university, the oldest in Portugal.  It was the capital of Portugal for a while during the Middle Ages, and some of its medieval area is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Along the pilgrimage route in Coimbra was the medieval Church of Santiago.

Igreja de Santiago, medieval church of Santiago

The Convent of Santa Clara, where we stayed the night before, was actually just across the river on a hill overlooking Coimbra in the suburb of Santa Clara.  It was founded by Santa Isabel, wife of King Dom Dinis.  She later became the patron saint of Portugal.  The original convent (Santa Clara-a-Velha) was built near the river, but it often was flooded, so the current convent (Santa Clara-a-Nova)(where we stayed) was built in the 17th century further uphill.

Coimbra from the top floor of our hotel

We planned to stay 2 nights in Coimbra but learned that museums and tourist buses are closed or don't operate on Mondays.  Instead we changed our reservation to one night and signed up for the hop on-hop off bus for that afternoon, to give us a good feel for Coimbra.  We had a nice, but expensive salmon lunch at a restaurant near the cathedral then took the bus tour.  It was a relaxing day, but we were ready to get back on the Camino tomorrow.