Having decided to skip the
famous Roman ruins at Mérida in Spain, (so we could spend more time in Portugal),
I was really looking forward to a visit to what is described (at least in our
guidebook) as Portugal’s most extensive and impressive remains from this
period. The journey through the forest areas along the coast (and past one of
our favourite surf spots with the kids all those years ago, Saõ Pedro de Moel)
was really beautiful, with very little traffic and the wonderful smell of pine
and eucalyptus. It may be taking us longer to get to places by taking these
back roads, but the sights along the way are usually well worth it!
And so, after an interesting
drive with the now expected cunning absence of signposts that led us at one point
down a dead end and into a woodyard, we arrived at the small town of Condeixa a
Velha, where the ruins were located.
Perhaps having seen so many
impressive Roman/Greek ruins in Italy and Sicily last year, I should have
thought about re-calibrating my expectations. OK, it’s a bit unfair and not
comparing like with like, but the Portuguese clearly share a lot in common with
the British, including mediaeval re-use of building materials taken from Roman
towns and cities! So instead of massive colonnaded temples and enormous
amphitheatres, Conímbriga delivered mainly low level outlines of buildings,
some impressive mosaic floors, some enthusiastic ‘reconstructed’ fountains and,
in scale at least, the impressive and intriguing ‘imperial wall’ that was
thrown up in the 3rd century AD to ward off invading Suevi, and in
so doing dividing the town into two.
It’s worth visiting the
on-site museum first, as it’s then a lot easier to appreciate what it is you
are actually looking at when wandering around the ruins. The displays are in
Portuguese and English, and quite cleverly use illustrations of real-life
activities with the display items highlighted in use – so, for example, a
blacksmith’s hammer is shown in an illustration of a smith using one on an
anvil.
It’s a poignant visit, as
the scale of the fear that led the inhabitants to throw up such a dramatic
defence as a wall dividing the city in two is self evident – and which
ultimately proved fruitless, as Coníbriga eventually fell to the Suevi with its
inhabitants fleeing to what is now Coimbra.
The mosaics apparently show
how settled and successful the town was, with many large and once sumptuous
villas all around. This one was one of the more extensive…
…and this, one where more
elaborate mosaics had been used…
The low level nature of most
of the ruins is captured in this pic, which shows the ruins of a large villa
and its once underground connecting archways…
There’s not much left of the
amphitheatre either, but the wooden benches help recreate some of what it must
have looked like…
The reconstructed fountains
of a large villa (where some of the best mosaics are also housed) have the
added bonus of a machine that sets the water spouting for 50c – which of course
I just had to see in action…
The best part of the site
for me though, was the large imperial wall – seen here with the remains of the
town’s aqueduct. This impressed me as much for its scale, as the poignancy of
the reasons for its construction and ultimate failure…
So, after a very informative
couple of hours and a refreshing cuppa back at the van, we headed off to find
our campsite on the outskirts of Coimbra. This was another venture into a
non-ACSI municipal site and our first in a city, so we were filled with anticipation
and curiosity as we set off…
S.
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