Coimbra is a riverfront city in the centre of Portugal and a former capital city of Portugal. In fact it was the original capital of Portugal.

The city is well known for having a prestigious University, think of what Oxford and Cambridge are to the UK and you will get a picture of what the University of Coimbra means to Portugal.

From Porto it takes less than 2 hours on the train to get to Coimbra. I arrived to a torrential downpour which was ironic because I was missing travelling and desperate to go abroad, and at the same time Brighton was sunny with warm temperatures and clear blue skies. I did question my the decision to travel to Portugal for about 20 minutes before weather eased, and I left the station to find my accommodation.

Dragging luggage on cobbled streets in the rain is not fun, especially when you can’t find where you’re suppose to go because there are many small hidden side streets, and Google Maps can’t seem to keep up with you.

I finally found the reception, it wasn’t well sign posted and it turned out I had gone past it twice while getting lost. I needed to go out of reception and walk down the street to find my room. Miguel, who helped me check in, walked with me so I wouldn’t get lost, and not only did he help carry one of my bags up the stairs (there was no lift), he upgraded me to a studio which was cool.

Miguel then kindly invited me and Raynier, a student from Cuba who was staying in the same building, and is doing his PHD at the University of Coimbra (studing to coach Olympic athletes which is impressive!) for food at the restaurant below, Tasca da Tia Mariazinha which I believe is also known as Taberna da Mariazinha if Google is anything to go by. It’s not well sign posted so the likelihood is you will need to ask for directions.

It’s a small place with a cosy style atmosphere where everyone interacts with everyone. Miguel was eager to introduce us to local food and wine. We had small plates of sardines and iscas de figado which is Portuguese fried liver. Usually I would say no to liver but if it’s traditional Portuguese food then I’m open to giving it a try.

There may have bee more than a little bit of red wine involved as well. All I requested was that it was not port red because it’s really does taste disgusting.

Being an English and Arabic speaker sitting at a table with a Spanish speaking Cuban and a Portuguese man made for an interesting interaction (I hardly used Google translate which I was pleased with). Miguel could speak good English but Raynier couldn’t speak any which I didn’t mind. I like to try and learn different languages even if I sound ridiculous doing so.

I don’t know how to describe it but even when you don’t speak the same language as someone else you somehow find a way to interact and understand what the other person is saying. I can understand words and phrases and fill in the blanks for the rest of the sentence. It was helpful to have Miguel fill in the blanks for us as well as he understood a little Spanish as well. Even at times when it was just me and Raynier, we didn’t struggle to understand each other.

When we got on to talking sports, Alfredo who was sitting on another table eagerly joined in the debating. Alfredo who was born in Portugal, grew up for a bit in South Africa, and moving back to Coimbra. He and Miguel support rivals football teams Benfica and Porto so of course they had a lot of back and forth with each other.

Alfredo took an interest in finding out more about our heritage and travels and he invited me to his restaurant,  Adega Paco do Conde for the day after. Where food is concerned the answer is always going to be a yes!

When you didn’t think you could love Miguel anymore than you thought, he went and settled the bill. Even when me and Raynier got money out and insisted that we pay. He wouldn’t hear of it. To put it loosley,this guy who hardly knew us went out of his way to take us out, give us tips on restaurants to eat at, things to see in Coimbra and took his time to get to know us and ensure we had a positive experience. I read reviews about the place I was staying at and I kid you not, every positive review was mainly about Miguel and it’s not hard to see why.

I was up way before my alarm clock which became a theme over this trip. I think this was due to getting up early for day trips to Guimarães and Braga and my body just got use to getting up extra early. It’s nice having the time to get ready and get out there early but at the same time it’s not when you want to go back to sleep and you can’t.

Miguel had circled everything to see on the map he gave me, and of course the majority of it involved walking up really steep cobbled hills. Luckily everything is close by as Coimbra is a small place.

At 8am the centre of Coimbra was a ghost town. You hardly saw anyone else to the point where I thought I was the only person in this place. I don’t think it started to get busy until after 10am which is a good thing for you early sun risers if you want to get some exploring in and enjoy the peacefulness.

It made sense to go to the highest point of Coimbra and get the steep hills out of the way. I won’t sugar coat it, it’s a bitch of a climb but it feels great once you have reached the summit of Coimbra.

On the way up you will see Se Velha (the old Cathedral), Se Nova (the new Cathedral), and a few other Churches and Cathedrals which makes Coimbra look like a mini Braga with the number of religious buildings you will see here.

And then of course you have the University which is spread out over several streets and blocks. You won’t realise the magnitude of prestige and the standing it has in country let alone Coimbra until you are standing here.

You won’t appreciate the sheer size of the campuses, the buildings and anything to do with the University. Architecturally it is one of the best universities I’ve seen and I include Glasgow University and Oxford University in this (I haven’t seen Cambridge University yet).

If you want to go inside, you will need to buy tickets, and you can even do a tour from one of the other buildings as well. I’ve never known for any kind of tour of a University to exist, though I imagine Harvard University probably does this. Although there are many buildings of the University you could visit, the main historical original campus is the one people visit.

It’s all downhill from here and you can let gravity do its thing. On the way down I stopped for breakfast at a café opposite Se Velha. It was surprise to me that I managed to conquer the steep hills of Coimbra on an empty stomach. It is easy not to think about your stomach when your legs and calves are being put through an intense work out. If you can cope with the steep hills in Coimbra than you can cope anywhere in Portugal!

On the way down from Se Velha there is the Arco de Alemedina, you can go to the museum inside the tower for about €2 and learn about the history of Coimbra. I had the bonus of being the only person here which was a surprise when you look at how cheap the entry is.

There’s a cool interactive feature on the first floor where you press a load of buttons which late up parts of a model of Coimbra city and a video plays which highlights the important moments of the history of Coimbra.

The second floor is a room with drawings and paintings of historical moments in Coimbra and then you can go up to the next floor and take photos of the view. If we’re being honest, the view was underwhelming considering you are in a tower where you would usually expect to have good views.

Don’t let that put you off going in the the museum, it is more than interesting than how I described it. You’re likely to have the spare time being somewhere as small as Coimbra so why not learn come here and learn about the history of the place?

I went out of the city centre for a walk along the Mondego River. I crossed the bridge to the other side to see a dozen or so guys, one by one setting up deck chairs, umbrellas and fishing rods.

Excuse my ignorance as I don’t know anything about fishing or the kind of conditions that are ideal or standard for fishing, but I had nothing but admiration for these guys for not having a care in the world and were not going to let bad weather or anything else get in the way of their fishing time.

The other side of the river opposite the main road would be the place to hang out in Coimbra on a warm summer day with a BBQ and a cider or glass of wine in hand. Right now all I could do was visualise it as the reality was very different to my imagination.

By sods law there was sunshine and blue skies here as recent as a few days ago. The last 2 days had seen the first days of rain in months. I mean how unlucky can you get with timing? I guess you can’t luck out with the weather all the time.

Don’t let the pictures fool you, all we could see were the clouds getting darker and the expectation that a downpour of rain imminent at any moment.

I went to Alfredo’s restaurant for lunch. When you arrive, you’ll see him behind the counter prepping and grilling meat and seafood. The smell of the fresh food, the friendly staff and chilled atmosphere are things you will notice as soon as you walk in.

I had robalo which is sea bass, accompanied with boiled potatoes, vegetables and a pot of olive oil which I did not hesitate to use up. Eating seafood here, it doesn’t take much to come to the realisation that the quality of seafood in Portugal is better than England.

What I’ve been told numerous times on this trip is apparently the location of the sea contributes to the quality of seafood in Portugal. The way the red wine is made also made a huge difference to the quality compared to how it tastes in the UK.

I was asked if I would like to try the pork. How can one turn down such an option? The pork is some of the best I’ve tasted anywhere on my travels. It didn’t last long on the plate!

After the meal, Alfredo invited me for wine with his friends after the restaurant closed. It’s common for restaurants here to open from 12pm – 3pm and reopen in the evening. I don’t think there are many better ways to spend your time after you’ve closed your restaurant thank drink wine with your friends.

I joined Alfredo and his two friends. Unfortunately I didn’t their names, so we’ll call them Carlos and Felipe. All sports fans which is what the conversation was centered on. Felipe was casually chatting to me in Portuguese like I was a local. I could just about make out what he was saying, but the best I could offer was a tactical nod with a raised eye brow and a “sim” (which means yes in Portuguese).

Alfredo and Carlos kept telling Felipe that I couldn’t speak or understand much Portuguese. Alfredo tried telling Felipe 3 or 4 times without breaking into laughter but to no avail. Felipe was in the zone debating, and in a way I understand, once you’re in the zone you can’t stop.

I smiled at Alfredo and said it was fine if just to let Felipe keep on talking and finish what he was saying (I think he’s still talking as I write this!). It was hard for all of us not to laugh while Felipe was directing most of his views to me, all the while I’m sitting there feeling lost without a clue of what he’s saying.

The more wine we drank the harder it was not to laugh. Stating the obvious, the wine got to all of us. It doesn’t sound funny writing this. It’s one of things where you had to be there. It seems ridiculous even writing this. I imagine without the influence of wine it probably wouldn’t be funny.

It wasn’t long until the restaurant was reopening so I left the guys to it and went to sort out travel for Lisbon. With the downpour getting worse as the day progressed, I went back to chill at the accommodation before wondering through the city and back to Adega Paco do Conde for dinner.

Although Miguel recommended places to eat in Coimbra, I wasn’t overly bothered about going anywhere else. I was having such a good time with the people here. They were friendly and I liked the atmosphere. It’s so true that you buy into people more than what you’re buying itself and the good food and wine was a bonus.

Having eaten seafood for lunch, I had a t-bone steak for dinner with chips and salad. Unusually it also came with a bowl of rice and beans which I had never seen before.

I didn’t think to ask if this was traditional in Portugal. Evan typing as we speak I searched on Google and it didn’t give me a conclusive answer. So anyone out there with knowledge of Portuguese cuisines, please feel free to let me know.

I ordered a chocolate mousse for dessert and the waiter bought a bottle of whiskey and asked if I wanted it with the chocolate mousse. I was a bit confused because I didn’t know it was something people mixed together. Initially it didn’t sound appealing but I went for it because why not try something new?

The chocolate mousse and whiskey combination went well together. When you reach the bottom though you really start to feel it, and as someone with a low tolerance to alcohol I struggled.

It was nice trying something new but whiskey with a chocolate mousse isn’t something I would be eager to order again.

For once I was grateful to be up way earlier than my alarm as I was due to leave for Lisbon. The weather wasn’t too bad so I went for an early morning stroll. I went over the other side of the bridge into the Santa Clara area.

The hill climb is not as steep as the one on the way to the University. At the top you get a nice view of Coimbra, I would say it is the best view you will see of the city, even if I can’t help imagining how nice it would have looked under the sunrise or sunset.

Alfredo invited me for breakfast before I left for Lisbon. We went to Casa Chelense. It’s a very small place, not much room to move around. I believe they use the outside for seating but not during early hours.

The first thing you notice when you go in is the different currencies hanging beneath the ceiling behind the counter, and old pictures and newspaper clippings on the wall with meat hanging off the top. It all looked pretty cool and unique.

I had a sande de panado de porco, which is translated to pork sandwich. Panado is the deep fried filling for the sandwich where choices include chicken, vegetarian or vegan options for your deep fried filling.

It was just what I needed, something small to keep me going for the train journey ahead until I arrived to Lisbon. I was persuaded to have an early morning traditional Portuguese alcoholic beverage called jeropiga mixed with a fizzy drink which tasted similar to sprite and 7up.

The drink didn’t taste strong and went down nicely. I may as well end my time in Coimbra as I began it, with something alcoholic. Who cares about the time of day? There are no rules on when to drink alcohol and even if are rules, they are there to be broken.

My time of Coimbra exceeded expectations thanks to Alfredo and Miguel. Two guys went out of their way to ensure I had the best time. Though I’ve experienced it before, it’s still amazing and humbling to see and meet people that will go out of their way to be kind and help others without expecting anything in return. It’s something we can learn as humans to do good without expecting anything in return and making it a habit.

Coimbra is nicely placed halfway between Porto and Lisbon and it’s not overrun by tourists. You could see it on a day trip, but it is worth staying a night or two to enjoy and get a feel of the place and experience its charm. You could even stay an extra nights and take a day trip to one of the destinations surrounding Coimbra.