'll guide you through narrow medieval streets, where Romans walked like it was theirs, where later António Salazar, the man behind the longest-lived dictatorship in Europe, strolled with similar demeanor, and further through newer neighbourhoods where the real owners, the people, quietly carry on. Where you can unmask the real Coimbra.

Having finally climbed on top of the hill, the monastery welcomes with its heavy posture. On the other side of the Mondego river, the view on Baixa invites me to take camera out. After taking pictures and feeling satisfied, we'll braved deeper into the Santa Clara neighborhood, where a small vegetable shop, a bakery, and quiet streets show how regular life looks like. We could've spent days there walking with the camera, but we have still a lot to see.

The Botanic Gardens is a gem. We'll walk to the Botanic Gardens of the University of Coimbra, where you'll find shady spots to eat your lunch and rest your legs before setting off to capture more of the city life. Some of the various plants and trees were brought there around 1774, which makes them well established and, well, royal-looking. If you like taking pictures of nature, you can spend days in the Botanic Gardens. We'll walk down to the bamboo forest and Estufa Fria, where the statue called Botânica, a female nude by the sculptor Martins Correia, proudly welcomes visitors.