Coimbra

History was written with celtic sounds until the 2nd Century AD, when the Romans arrived, having remained up to now the signs of grandeur, which can be admired at the Cryptoportic of Civitas Aeminium, in the Machado de Castro National Museum. Coimbra has then turned Moorish and the city within the walls was already known as Almedina when the conquest of the Christian Faith began.The cities protected themselves around the temples and, according to the will of  D. Afonso Henriques, Portugal's first king, the Monastery of Santa Cruz was built in 1331 and the city became the kings' cradle.The Old Cathedral dates back to 1184 and it is still the witness of Romanesque style. However, Coimbra owes the Monks of the S.Bento and Cister Orders the sober monasteries and convents, where the light iluminates nude walls and the archs rise up to God. The Convent of Santa Clara-a-Velha that dates from that period is also a witness of the devotion that the people rendered to the Queen Isabel of Aragão,who has become a Saint. Inês de Castro, that beautiful woman Prince Pedro fell in love with, has also lived in Santa Clara-a-Velha, the same place where she would later be killed by order of King Afonso IV. It was the beginning of a love story, the most tragic and imortal one that has ever been written in the Portuguese language. But, it is owing to the Renaissance and to the University that Coimbra has achieved its importance throughout the centuries.

The University was founded in 1290 by King Dinis and definitively transferred to Coimbra in 1537. The students have given and they still give Coimbra Fados and Ballads, Books and Poems, Dreams and Saudade. That's why when the Iron Gate is left behind in everyone's life Coimbra never leaves.