2 stops in walking order

Garden

Penedo da Saudade, previously known as Pedra dos Ventos (Boulder of the Winds) is a historical public garden built in 1849 in Coimbra, Portugal. The garden is bounded to the north and west by Avenida Dr. Marnoco e Sousa and faces south and east, with panoramic views of the Mondego River, the Coimbra skyline and the Coimbra City Stadium. The garden is arranged on a series of terraces ("socalcos") built along the hillside, featuring built-in benches. It begins with an elevated platform serving as a promenade garden, enclosed to the north by a walkway and parking area. A central axis paved with Portuguese pavement runs through the garden, flanked by plane trees and hedges. The steep slopes defining the terraces are covered with shrubs and herbaceous plants, with trees mainly at the top of the terraces. A long winding walkway leads down the hill through a wooded area, from the main section of the garden all the way down to Infanta Dona Maria street.

~20 min at this stop

Historic Site

Coimbra, officially the City of Coimbra, is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of 319.40 square kilometres (123.3 sq mi). It is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, and is the largest city of the district of Coimbra and the Central Region. About 460,000 people live in its intermunicipal community. Among the many archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, are its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus. Similarly, buildings from the period when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal (from 1131 to 1255) still remain. During the late Middle Ages, with its decline as the political centre of the Kingdom of Portugal, Coimbra began to evolve into a major cultural centre. This was in large part helped by the establishment of the first Portuguese university in 1290 in Lisbon and its relocation to Coimbra in 1308, making it the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world.

~20 min at this stop