Europe, Family Travel, Portugal, Travel

Our brush with revolution in Coimbra

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Our original plan was to rent a car in Porto, drive inland to Coimbra for a night, then drive further inland to stay at a mountain town called Monsanto for another night. After reading a few blogs, and then a few more blogs about the driving and parking experience in Portugal for the inexperienced, we decided to stick to places we could access by train and save our Portuguese countryside tour for another trip.

After seeing drivers thread the needle through the narrow streets of Porto, we were certain driving here might not be our thing, like, ever.

At this point in the trip, Jack jettisoned off to visit with friends in Vienna for a weekend. He left his luggage with us to drag along all over Europe. I don’t know who okayed this arrangement, but it made us reluctant to try to hike into the medieval city center from the train station to find our lodging.

Our flat was on the 3rd (i.e. 4th) floor of a little home at the top of a hill paved with ancient cobblestones, so I’m glad we weren’t tempted to hoof it. The taxi ride there was an adventure all on its own, but we arrived safely.

We had amazing views at this place, too.


Overlooking the square and the ancient Se Velho
Overlooking the medieval town on the other side of the building and the Mondego River

One of the travel habits we developed a few years ago was booking tours early in our vacation. Airbnb experiences are listed in virtually every town we visit and make it easier to book opportunities (after vetting them beforehand at our leisure) than ever before. For trip to Coimbra, we scheduled a walking tour with Samantha, a former Erasmus scholar and law school graduate of Coimbra University (located just behind the Sé Velho in the photo above). We were the only ones in our group.

Samantha had fantastic stories about being a student in this very student-oriented town (which reminded us a great deal of our University of Idaho days). She was able to point out locations for a free Fado show, her favorite restaurants and markets, and her experience moving here as an expat from Italy.

The Arco de Almedina, the original entrance to the city through the medieval wall, of Arab origin dating back to the 11th Century
A wayfinder noting the path of the original wall
The Praça do Comércio, or commerce square that’s largely abandoned because the neighboring market street gets all the traffic
Igreja de Santa Cruz, near the town square and a restaurant with a couple free Fado shows each night
The Jardim de Manga, designed in the Arabian style, and planned out in a sketch on the architect’s sleeve
Monumento Luis de Camóes – where university students pose with the lion to show they’ll conquer their studies – sometimes feeding the lion a beer to increase their chances
School Uniform Store
A public avenue just outside the medieval portion of the city, with restaurants and shops
The student union building (or equivalent), with panels showing student uniforms with traditional clothing of the era in the background
Praça da República, garden with futebol field nearby
Aqueduto de São Sebastião
Aqueduto de São Sebastião
Jardim Botânico da Universidade de Coimbra
Real Republica Ay O Linda – one of a number of student association organized around a central political ideology, a little like an activist fraternity
Looking out over the more modern part of town where locals live
The prison
The top of the Monumental Staircase looking down into town
the top of the Monumental Staircase looking into the University entrance
The Humanities building of UC
University tradition is for graduating seniors to have their clothing ripped off and strips of it tied to the entrance.
The bells in the university square toll twice a day – 6 pm to remind students not to party too late on a school night and 7 am as an alarm. The clock tower is called A “Cabra” by the locals or The Goat (a euphemism for “bitch”)
The library at the university of Coimbra. Bats apparently live there, which officials don’t mind as they keep the bugs away from the books (covered to protect them at night from the guano)
The view from the university square
Once the area received UNESCO status (or maybe a condition of it?) they started putting in pavers that make hilly areas accessible by things with wheels
Our guide, Samantha, an Erasmus scholar and former law student at the University of Coimbra
The backside of Sé Velha
Sé Velha, the end of our tour

The craziest coincidence about being in Coimbra right at this moment is that it was also the anniversary of the 1974 liberation of Portugal from the dictatorship. It turns out our own flat was once the residence of a famous singer-songwriter, Jose Alfonso, whose song was used to signal the start of what became known as the largely bloodless Carnation Revolution.

A tribute to Jose Afonso (Zeca)
Our Airbnb, which is also once the lodging of the famous revolutionary singer-songwriter whose work was broadcast a signal to begin the revolution

It was the military that rose up against the regime after years of colonial war in Africa stretched resources thin and sparked dissent. The coup was planned over the course of months. Once the signal given, soldiers in Lisbon advised residents to stay inside their homes. The Portuguese people being … well, Portuguese, interpreted as a sign they should gather in the streets to check out the action.

One young woman was carrying an armload of carnations ordered by her boss to celebrate the opening of a restaurant. She saw the soldiers passing and heard the announcement and began passing out the flowers, which the soldiers put in the muzzles of their guns.

Which turns out to be the story behind the room names in our building (Coragem: courage, and Liberdade: liberty) and also of some of the decor for our building.

While our lodgings were gorgeous and comfortable, they were also right next to the Sé Velho square where university students enjoyed what sounded like a great party Saturday night until at least 4 am, and then the commencement of the April 25 celebration of the revolution the following night.

So, overall, an enlightening, if somewhat tiring experience, with a great story. My favorite. And also the reason I always travel with ear plugs.

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