Coimbra- 'Portugal's Oxbridge'- close to Figueira da Foz

Portugal’s third city after Lisbon and Porto, Coimbra is well worth a visit if you are staying in Figueira da Foz. Take the train, which takes less than one hour and costs just €2. Coimbra is a University town, home to the oldest and most prestigious university in the Portuguese-speaking world, and one of the most renowned universities in Europe. If you visit in term time you’ll see students running around the city wearing flapping black capes, carrying wooden canes festooned with ribbons that show what stage in their course they’ve reached.

Try to make it to Coimbra at the beginning of May for the famous Queima das Fitas, the Burning of the Ribbons ceremony (shortened to ‘The Burn’) which marks the end of the second semester. The party lasts eight days with live music events, mobile beer pumps lining the streets and general mayhem. According to Wikipedia there is more beer drunk during this week, which is recognised as one of the largest student parties in Europe, than is drunk at Oktoberfest in Munich.

If you’re not going to Coimbra to watch and join in with student antics then still visit for the wonderful architecture that spans centuries. Visit the Roman archaeological remains of the Aqueduct and Cryptoporticus and more recent remains from Coimbra’s time as capital city of Europe (1139-1260).

Then, of course, there are the University buildings. Dating from 1290, the university is home to some breathtaking buildings that are still used today, including the Coimbra General Library that is the second largest in Portugal. Other sights to take in are the New Cathedral of Coimbra (dating from the Seventeenth Century) and the Botanical Gardens of the University of Coimbra, dating from the eighteenth Century.

If you have children with you, or fancy an educational visit to a theme park, then make sure you check out Portugal dos Pequenitos a small scale re-creation of Portugal’s most famous buildings (the buildings are still large enough for children to climb inside and explore!).