Baixa
This downtown district was for centuries Coimbra's commercial heart. In recent years some of the life has been sucked out due to the construction of out-of-center shopping malls, particularly the giant Forum Coimbra. Nevertheless, the neighborhood retains great charm. It's also fighting back, with trendy new shops opening alongside traditional stores that give the narrow streets a souk-like buzz.
The area's main drag is the elegant, boutique-lined rua Ferreira Borges, now pedestrianized to provide a pleasant stroll between the Praça 8 de Maio and another café-lined plaza, the riverside Largo da Portagem. The Café Briosa, est. 1955, may just be the best place to try the Coimbra region's sinfully tasty pastries like the pasteis de Tentúgal (cigar-shaped filo-pastry tubes with a cinnamon-scented filling) or the almond-paste-filed pasteis de Santa Clara.
Between Ferreira Borges and the river, the Baixa fragments into a maze of narrow alleys filled with quirky stores where you can buy everything from a jersey of the local soccer club, Académica, to agricultural implements. At Praça do Comércio, the lanes broaden out into a elongated plaza surrounded by the narrow white facades of townhouses reaching seven stories high. At the northern end of the plaza is the Igreja de São Tiago, one of the city's oldest churches, its earliest parts dating back to the 10th century. Open Mon–Fri, 10am–5pm. Its Romanesque interior is gloomy and atmospheric.
This downtown district was for centuries Coimbra's commercial heart. In recent years some of the life has been sucked out due to the construction of out-of-center shopping malls, particularly the giant Forum Coimbra. Nevertheless, the neighborhood retains great charm. It's also fighting back, with trendy new shops opening alongside traditional stores that give the narrow streets a souk-like buzz.
The area's main drag is the elegant, boutique-lined rua Ferreira Borges, now pedestrianized to provide a pleasant stroll between the Praça 8 de Maio and another café-lined plaza, the riverside Largo da Portagem. The Café Briosa, est. 1955, may just be the best place to try the Coimbra region's sinfully tasty pastries like the pasteis de Tentúgal (cigar-shaped filo-pastry tubes with a cinnamon-scented filling) or the almond-paste-filed pasteis de Santa Clara.
Between Ferreira Borges and the river, the Baixa fragments into a maze of narrow alleys filled with quirky stores where you can buy everything from a jersey of the local soccer club, Académica, to agricultural implements. At Praça do Comércio, the lanes broaden out into a elongated plaza surrounded by the narrow white facades of townhouses reaching seven stories high. At the northern end of the plaza is the Igreja de São Tiago, one of the city's oldest churches, its earliest parts dating back to the 10th century. Open Mon–Fri, 10am–5pm. Its Romanesque interior is gloomy and atmospheric.
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