Conimbriga

While traveling to Coimbra I asked Nina what time the optional tour to Conimbriga was leaving the next day. Then she told us there weren’t enough signed up to go so it was cancelled.  I pretended to be very upset and the couple seated in front of us was quite disappointed.  So as I passed them when getting on the bus I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.”  And I did.  It was great fun as I told people how great it would be.  Then Nina said in an off handed way did I want to try the microphone.  I think she was quite surprised when I began, “Friends and new neighbors.”  Everyone laughed.  Once people laugh, everyone pays attention.  I admitted that we didn’t think we wanted to go until I  looked it up in my guide book but it is so beautiful.  And yes, we have been to Pompeii and some of us to Herculaneum but that Conimbriga is even better preserved.  Your travel friends will be amazed when you tell them what you saw and show them the pictures!  I talked not too long but was apparently persuasive enough that after a few minutes everyone was happily anticipated this new adventure.  Nina was especially surprised at my success.  Her voice is very monotone to sing-songy.  Many times she stops mid-sentence.  Sometimes searching for the right words and sometimes I think she just forgets where her train of thought is going.  Also whenever she is giving us the Portuguese name for something she pronounces it in syllables but never brings them together.  To conclude, Judy-Lynn got the job done and 19 of us went to Conimbriga.

The site lies just outside the city about 30 minutes along a Roman Road.  The bus driver got lost but once we got to the correct location most people used the rest rooms.  This has become standard operating procedure.  Whether we have been on the bus 3 hours or just 30 minutes there is a mad dash.  On site we were introduced to our guide, David.  Before we leave Portugal I will have to check Ruth’s luggage to be sure that he is not tucked away inside.  He was quite handsome and very intelligent and spoke perfect English – as do most of the young people in these college towns.  I asked if he was an archeologist working on the site but he is a well versed historian.  I love that.

The ruins of Conimbriga were found beneath a shared pastureland. The town dates from 25 BC  but the largest houses and best buildings are from the 2nd and 3rd centuries.  The largest house ever found in any ruins is here.  It had its own baths, and colonnaded gardens the outlines of which can still be seen.  The shops were attached to the houses. Tile floors in dynamic patterns have been reassembled with found bits…much like a giant puzzle.  These examples of early mosaic tile work are really quite beautiful and quite complete.

The first Christian Church was entered by a hidden hallway since believing in the new religion could get you killed.  It was however linked to and next to the Governor’s expansive mansion of many rooms. The Necropolis lies a distance as it was outside the walls and the area is large enough to have an amphitheater for entertainments and gladiator battles.
The most luxurious building complex is The Fountain House. It has a still operating fountain garden that once was in the Atrium.  This house also had a fish pond and the owner sold fish.  His main business was providing the communal latrines!
Nearby is the bath house and steam room of Trajan’s ‘thermae’ which were fed by a spring.  The water was carried from the spring which is several miles away by an underground aqueduct.  Certainly the first I have ever been shown evidence of.  These Romans lived well.  This all ended when Barbarians captured the city in the early 4th century.  The current excavations began when the city was found in 1912.  Skeletons have not been found. Perhaps this is because there was no natural disaster that ended the life in this city.  The inhabitants must have simply run away from their conquerors. The work is far from finished so who knows what may happen.

We had time to walk through both sides of the museum.  One had artifacts such as a jug that had been hidden on a roof.  It held hundreds of coins any one of which would support a Roman family of four for a year!  Oddly enough there is a lot of Celtic influence in many of the items.   The other side was more about the architecture. 

Ruth’s new friends from Manchester U.K. had thought to join us in Coimbra today but I am almost glad they didn’t . We would have missed this amazing excavation and exhibition to say nothing of missing David!