Private tours in Oporto & surroundings
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Coimbra, Fatima, Batalha - full day
Personalized booking
Program
Coimbra - Coimbra, a charming town with an ancient and traditional University, where we mingle in the atmosphere of students. Inhabited by Romans
and Arabs, it was once the capital of Portugal, before Lisbon took its place. Sightseeing of Coimbra, including the University, the first to exist in Portugal,
since the XIII century and one of the most important Universities in Europe: see the Library, a masterpiece of gilt wood-work and its courtyard from
where we have another nice view over Mondego river.
Free time to walk around through the narrow streets of the ancient section and see the antique Cathedral, dating from the XII century. You may also
choose to visit “Portugal in miniature”, an area with miniatures of several monuments of Portugal.
Fatima - Our Lady of Fatima is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary Who appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima, on the 13th day of six
consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May, the Fatima holiday. Tour of Fatima where you can visit the Sanctuary and the Basilica – with the
tombstones of shepherds - and the Chapel of Apparitions, heart of the shrine – where Our Lady appeared to the shepherds. Time to attend mass.
Aljustrel, tour of the houses where Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia were born.
Valinhos, see the place where Our Lady of Fatima appeared for the 4th time in August 19th, 1917.
Loca do Anjo, visit the place where the children, Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia, saw the apparition of the Angel for the first and third time.
Batalha - Proceed to Batalha Monastery, a XIV century masterpiece in Gothic style. Batalha Monastery, is a Dominican monastery in the Portuguese
town of Batalha, in the District of Leiria, Portugal. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the
Manueline style. It amazes the onlooker with its profusion of gables, spires, pinnacles and buttresses. It has become a symbol of Portugal. Here you can
admire the highest church in Portugal, the Royal Pantheon of the Portuguese “Conquerors of the Sea”, the beautiful manueline cloister and the “Unfinished
Chapels”.
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...This city holds a special place in the hearts of all the Portuguese. Rich in its history and is the oldest seat of learning in
Portugal with a University founded in 1290 by King Dinis, one of the oldest in the world. Six of Portugal’s Kings were
born here and between 1139 and 1256 it was the chosen capital of the country. Old Coimbra sits on a hill on the right
bank of the River Mondego, with the university crowding its summit. Centuries of history lie under a fine mantle of
huddled white washed houses, intersected by endless winding streets, steps, arches and lanes which decorate this
beautiful, centuries-old Upper Coimbra. The city has a few archeological remains of ruins dating from the time it was a
Roman town called Aeminium.With a dense urban grid the city of Coimbra is famous for its monuments, churches,
libraries, museums, numerous parks, gardens, nightlife, health-care and shopping facilities, but above all for its
University, which made Coimbra develop into an important cultural centre and has notable monuments from that era and
beyond. Due to its monumental buildings and history, attracts tourists from around the world...
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...The Catholic Church regards the three parts of the Fatima Secret and the total Fatima message to be important and of
great value to the spiritual lives of its people. It consists only of prophecies about the new condition of the Church in the
world.... Fatima and its Secret do present us with something deeply serious, for they bring us face to face with the
mysteries of eternal life. Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions. Faith and prayer are forces
which can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than
armies...
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...In the XIV century, king Ferdinand died without a male heir to the throne; this originated the most significant civil war
in Portugal, involving England and Spain. The winner, king John I, ordered the construction of this Monastery in homage
to his victory and to be his Royal Pantheon. In fact, he started also what would become known as the “Magnificent
Generation”, those Monarchs who gave the impulse and consolidated the gigantic Portuguese Empire. The Monastery
was to be the Portuguese monarchy's main building project for the next two centuries. Here a highly original, national
Gothic style evolved, profoundly influenced by Manueline art...
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