I’d had a quick read about Coimbra before our trip, then my sister mentioned it was a cool place to visit. Home to the oldest university in Portugal (and a lot of other old stuff besides), it’s about halfway between Lisbon and Porto so made for a good place to stop on our journey north. Armed with little more than a vague idea of “it being the oldest university in Portugal” I drove us into the town and parked somewhere, despite the multiple “helpful” interjections thrown at me.
With enough time to spare, we opted to buy a visitors pass to the university complex which included a chapel, the Joanine library, palace, chemistry lab and cabinet of curiosities. The chapel was pretty spectacular with its painted roof and giant organ. The Joanine library was also awesome with its old books and bats that feed on the many insects that feast on old paper. (I’m not sure if the bats are still there as I didn’t see/hear any and I’m not sure if it was a mistranslation of a tense, but bats in a library? How cool!) We had to go in on a timed visit for the library as it’s super old and we weren’t even allowed to take photos on the inside.
After the library we looked at the chemistry lab and the curiosity cabinets, which were actually pretty cool. The curiosity cabinets were reimagined as part of a light and sound installation. Lots of gross things but a feast for the eyes. From there we went to the palace which is still in use today as the place where PhD candidates defend their theses. The hall is spectacular, painting, and old.
Once done, we were starving but there wasn’t much open so settled on kebabs. We skipped the botanic gardens as it was starting to rain, and Simon drove us the rest of the way to Porto.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?