We’re keeping with the theme of not having any type of morning commitment. As we had really enjoyed yesterday’s coffee at 📍Nau Coffee - Specialty Coffee we had immediately elected to and have breakfast at 📍Nau Coffee Brunch & Specialty Coffee. They might be named similarly but one could not be more different from the other. The latter wasn’t about the craft of the coffee or the food; they didn’t offer the delicious pastry from the former either. It was an okay breakfast and the coffee was fine, but compared to the coffee and pastry at the original shop, the gap between expectation and execution made it more noticeable.
Coimbra was historically constructed with a distinct vertical divide rather than spreading evenly across the river. The city originally developed almost entirely on the northern, elevated bank of the Mondego River. It was split into the upper city, where the aristocracy and clergy lived, and the lower city by the river, which housed merchants and artisans. The university was permanently established on the highest ground of the city in 1537 because the king gifted his Royal Palace (the Paço da Alcáçova) to the institution. This hilltop location provided the university prestige and a prominent position overlooking the city… by about 70 metres. So high but not that high either.
Our brunch was right next to the university. Nevertheless we choose to go back down to the good coffee shop for delicious coffee and cinnamon rolls. I could pretend we wanted to redeem the Nau Coffee name, but really we just love coffee and cinnamon rolls and will take any excuse for some.
Tummy filled, we started our university tour by visiting the 📍Jardim Botânico da Universidade de Coimbra. Choosing the entrance by the 📍Ancien wagon de tramway, we both enjoyed walking in the shade of the trees and through the bamboo forest all the way up to the university. In late August there are very few flowers but the gardens are nothing if not beautiful. Some parts of it needed some care with paths blocked off but nothing that affected the experience.
From the gardens we made our way to the 📍Gabinete de Curiosidades (Cabinet of Curiosities) which required us walking through the geology exhibits. Honestly, the museology of what’s essentially a rock exhibit was surprisingly well done. The displays are in dim light and you have to get close to them for the light to turn from a dark hue to a brighter white. At that short of a distance from the display you’re bound to notice a rock or two that catches your eye and encourages you to read the description. We’ve spent more time slowly walking to the different displays than I would have ever expected. We then moved to the small rectangular room that is the cabinet of curiosities. Mostly setup for visual effect, it’s meant to feel like the odds and ends of a world explorer from the 18th century or a pre-museum exhibit. The absence of any identification is a purposeful act on the part of the university. The idea is to create a sense of wonder and, well, we did wonder. Mostly about why they put some things with some others but that’s a form of wondering and we think that counts.
We continued our visit to the physics department exhibit that shows the collection of historical physics instruments and experimental tools. The fact that they managed to preserve so many is probably more impressive than what they are trying to convey with the exhibit.
From there we moved on to the visiting the palace. We expected that visiting a plalace would take a while but it’s really 2 rooms and the second one you don’t enter, you get to look at it from windows along a corridor on the second level of what was originally the throne room and is now known as the great hall used for some of the university’s ceremonies. It’s another short visit.
The pièce de résistance of the university visit is the ancient library. The📍Biblioteca Joanina is a Baroque (as in highly ornate) library built between 1717 and 1728. It is all gilded woodwork with two stories of wall to wall bookshelves with over seventy thousand rare volumes from the 16th to 18th centuries. It’s full of small details from the little study nooks built into the bookshelves that overlap the windows, to the pull out metal rods that let librarians position ladders to access the high shelves. We spent ten minutes being prepared to enter the library, about five of which were in a smaller working library where they scan the old books of the main library. We were allocated ten minutes per entry in the main space and we needed them all to take in the space. As they don’t allow photographs or videos in the space, there was no let’s take pictures and look at the details later. After the visit, it made much sense why it’s the only specific time entry site at the university. They allow groups of up to 50 every 20 minutes. Most of what’s lighting the space being the natural light from the draped windows, visiting during the early morning or later in the day to get more horizontal light was what was recommended to us and made the most sense after we experienced it. We still managed to take a picture of the the library as we exited. We’ll point out we respected the rules of not taking pictures inside the library: we took it from outside through the open door.
The library was the conclusion of our university tour. The perfect maple sirup on top of our pancake. We went back to the apartment, charged our phones and the humans as well. We then headed back out to 📍PASSAPORTE for wine and the sunset views. It is by no stretch of the imagination a good value for money in terms of drinks but what they lack in alcohol value they make up in view and service. We enjoyed ourselves and were ready for dinner.
We had picked a Michelin recommended place that specializes in Bacalhau (salted cod). It is a staple of Portuguese cuisine after all. Up until this adventure we would have described ourselves as blind followers of the Michelin rating. 📍Restaurante Solar do Bacalhau disabused us from that trust quite thoroughly. I don’t know if money changed hands, I don’t know what the Michelin reviewer was thinking, but it’s essentially a Red Lobster focused on salted cod. The food was well cooked, the baked fish tasted only of garlic, so did most of the sides. The only positive thing I would say is the single cod croquette that came in our starters was okay. We were in and out within the hour. I’m not saying that we’ll stop using Michelin as a guide but we will cross-reference the reviews for the next while. At least until we know if that was a fluke or a trend.
After a full day in Coimbra we can confirm we’ve done it all. The two nights is the perfect amount of time. Tomorrow we’re making our way south, all the way to Évora. Pretty much at the same latitude as Lisbon only further east.