Coimbra – WANDERLUST FAMILY ADVENTURE

Travel to England, Portugal and Madeira during COVID-19 Pandemic

October 13, 2020 Rita Aguilar Coimbra, England, Europe, Lisbon, London, Madeira, Porto, Portugal, Travel

2020 was the year I had to do some personal business in Portugal and England, unfortunately it was also the year of COVID-19! In February of 2020 I arranged to do some paperwork at the Portuguese Consulate in Boston and in March due to the outbreak of COVID-19 my appointment at the consulate was postponed. It was again postponed in April and again in July 🙁 . I had no other option than to book a flight to Portugal to get my documents that I needed before December 31, 2020. I needed from Portugal my Portuguese ID card and to renew my passport which I then needed to apply for permanent resident status in England, United Kingdom. Since I was already in Europe I decided to make a side trip to my maternal grandparents home of Madeira as well. Now that you know my circumstances of why I had to travel during the pandemic I will describe the experiences I had in each of the three destinations. Understand that I was very cognizant of the seriousness of the disease and my husband is in a very vulnerable group so Alex and I was very careful with our personal efforts to prevent infection. We always wore our masks and practiced social distancing whenever possible.

New photo by Wanderlust Family Adventure / Google Photos

We both took a COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to our arrival in Portugal before leaving Boston. To board the plane to Portugal at Logan Airport we had to show documentation of our negative test results to the airline check-in station. We observed several passengers being denied entry to the plane while we were waiting because they did not have their test results.
Arriving in Portugal I found the social distancing to be in place and followed by almost everyone. Stores, restaurants and shops limited people going in and were in a one person in one out type of rotation, I felt very comfortable. With masks on the other hand pretty much the only people wearing masks were the tourists and foreigners. After about a week however I returned to Portugal from England and Madeira and many more people were wearing masks because of an uptick in the amount of cases.
England had a two week quarantine for all new arrivals and wearing of masks and social distancing were pretty much universal. Groups of no more than six people were allowed including family members.
Medeira was where I felt most safe. We had to take a COVID test immediately upon arrival at the airport and then could not leave our hotel room until we received a negative test result. This took for us about eight hours. After getting our negative results we found the procedures in place to be the most strict of anywhere we had been. Everyone wore a mask at all times and all shops and restaurants had social distancing strictly enforced. Overall the COVID protocols in place I encountered were much better than what we see here in the United States which I am sure is why the case numbers in places like Madeira and Portugal are so low. Even though England and The United Kingdom was slow to react to the virus and is why their numbers were quite high it appears that they learned their lesson and are now taking the proper precautions. I felt much safer in all three locations than I do in my own country.

Science Museum of the University of Coimbra – Coimbra, Portugal

October 1, 2020 Rita Aguilar Architecture, Coimbra, Europe, Historic Sites, Museums, Portugal, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The Science Museum of the University of Coimbra (Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra) gathers the historical scientific collections of several units of the University of Coimbra, in Coimbra, Portugal. It includes the collection of scientific instruments from the 18th and 19th century of the Physics Museum, the collections of botanics, zoology, anthropology and mineralogy of the Natural History Museum, and the collections of the Astronomical Observatory and the Geophysical Institute of the University of Coimbra.
Formerly there were several museums in the university, including a museum of physics, a museum of zoology, a museum of natural history, and a museum of mineralogy and geology, which were managed by different university departments. They merged in 2006/2007 to form the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra.
Most of these collections date back to the reform of the University promoted by the Marquis of Pombal in 1772, where the teaching of the sciences took major importance, and are lodged in the contemporary buildings of the 18th century. This constitutes the most important science collection in Portugal and one of the most important ones in Europe.

Sé Nova de Coimbra (New Cathedral) – Coimbra, Portugal

October 1, 2020 Rita Aguilar Architecture, Church/Cathedral, Coimbra, Europe, Historic Sites, Portugal

The New Cathedral of Coimbra (Portuguese: Sé Nova de Coimbra) or the Cathedral of the Holy name of Jesus is the current bishopric seat of the city of Coimbra, in Portugal. The Cathedral is located near the historical University of Coimbra in the upper part of the town. The New Cathedral was originally the church of the Jesuit Formation house of Coimbra, established in the city in 1543. In 1759, the Jesuit Order was banned from Portugal by the Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of King José I. In 1772, the bishopric seat was transferred from the old Romanesque Cathedral of the city (now called the Old Cathedral of Coimbra) to the vacant, spacious and more modern Jesuit church. The church architecture was influential in the Portuguese colonial world. The façade of the former Jesuit church of Salvador, in colonial Brazil (now the Cathedral of Salvador), built in the 17th century, seems inspired by the Jesuit church of Coimbra.

The Old Town of Coimbra – Coimbra, Portugal

September 22, 2020 Rita Aguilar Architecture, Church/Cathedral, Coimbra, Europe, Fort/Fortification, Hiking, Historic Markers, Historic Sites, Memorials, Museums, Portugal, Statue / Sculpture, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

We took a walk from the Praça do Comercio (Central Square) through the old town of Coimbra up to the UNESCO World Heritage Site University of Coimbra. Passing by the statue of Joaquim António de Aguiar we passed through the Almedina Arch.

We passed through a network of steep little alleys and stairs.

Stairs after stairs,

there were little shops along the way even a cannabis restaurant/shop

after more uphill climbs and stairs we reached the Sé Church

views from opposite the church

after the church we headed back uphill 🙁

We reached the Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro

across from the museum were the stairs to the university

Be sure to check out the post on the University of Coimbra here.
A wonderful (albeit very tiring) walk through the old town. Click on the links in the text for more pictures and in depth posts on each stop.

Praça do Comercio (Old Town Central Square) – Coimbra Portugal.

September 22, 2020 Rita Aguilar Architecture, Church/Cathedral, Coimbra, Europe, Historic Sites, Hotels, Memorials, Portugal, Restaurants, Statue / Sculpture

Set in the heart of the old town of Coimbra, Portugal this charming central square is the perfect place to base your exploration of this wonderful city. We were staying at the Hotel Oslo which was just a block away from the square.

The alley leading to the square is lined with restaurants many of which we were to try in the next several days. Click the links for reviews of the ones we sampled.
The Gelateria Bellini where we had our first pastel da nata.