A Portuguese University Town, Both Familiar and Foreign

A Portuguese University Town, Both Familiar and Foreign
Visiting a college town can sure bring back memories: dorm living, late night studying, partying to excess, roaming the campus dressed like vampires.

The vampire apparel may be less familiar if you didn’t attend the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290 — making it one of the world’s oldest continually operating universities — and still one of Portugal’s most prestigious schools. Through the centuries the university developed a set of customs and traditions collectively known as “praxe,” which among other things governs the use of the official university uniform that consists in part of a black cape, giving them a strikingly vampiric appearance.

At least that was my delighted take during my three-day visit to Coimbra (pronounced ko-EEM-bra) in December. Some sang drunkenly on their way home from Christmas gatherings; two approached me to ask for a 1 euro (about $1.30) donation to help pay for floats for the Queima das Fitas, the May festival that is the city’s main tourist draw. (I donated, in exchange for their posing for a picture with me.) None, happily, tried to drink my blood.

Coimbra, which is in central Portugal, is an easy place to get to and a cheap place to stay. I spent 12 euros for the hour-and-a-half bus ride from Porto in the north (the trip from Lisbon is only a bit longer and more expensive) and paid 30 euros a night for a room at the Flor de Coimbra Guesthouse, housed in a 200-year-old building that will please those who like rotary phones, creaky floors and friendly family ownership enough to tolerate dim lighting, lumpy mattresses and cranky bathroom fixtures.

Flor de Coimbra, like most of the city’s guesthouses and hotels, is in the Baixa, the downtown neighborhood down an exhausting but walkable hill from the Alta, where the campus sits. (For those not up for the walk, an elevator connects the lower part of town with the upper for the price of city bus ride — three trips for 2.20 euros) Both areas are graced with narrow, winding streets, though the Alta is mostly taken up by university buildings and graffiti-covered student housing, whereas the Baixa is loaded with shops, restaurants and other commercial activity. Ancient churches, picturesque plazas and the nearly total lack of international chain stores can make both areas feel like the 1950s — or the 1590s.

The centerpiece of the campus area is the Paço das Escolas, a former Portuguese royal palace, repurposed centuries ago as university space. (Coimbra was the capital of Portugal for much of the 12th and 13th centuries.) The U-shaped building includes the university’s main chapel, the law school, and traditional ceremonial rooms like the elegant Hall of Doctors, the former royal bedroom where doctoral degrees are now granted.

Much of it is open to the public, but even so I felt like a bit of a spy, peering into classrooms lined with ancient wooden desks, chatting with law students smoking on arcaded balconies, climbing up stairwells whose landings gave successively more impressive views of the city below. Centuries-old azulejos (Iberian blue-and-white-glazed tiles) decorated many walls, while just-posted fliers advertising poetry slams and dance lessons covered others.

Visiting some of the spaces requires a ticket (7 euros), at least in theory. But I found that out only after I had visited the Hall of Doctors — there was no guard or ticket taker — and was stopped trying to enter the chapel. Aghast at my earlier transgression, I immediately went back and paid for my ticket. Just kidding! I went the frugal, if ethically dicey, route of skipping the ticket. And since the chapel was holding a free Christmas concert that night, I knew I’d see it , if not the library, which is apparently stunning.

The a cappella Christmas hymns sung by students that night were lovely, but the true music of Coimbra is fado, the melancholy music whose local version differs significantly from the better-known Lisbon style. In Coimbra, the singers are traditionally male; they often perform in duos or in groups and use a slightly different guitar, among other distinctions.

I had been told that Queima das Fitas, the May festival, was the best time to take in local fado. But there are several spots that function as performance venues year-round. Of the ones I sampled, the best was also free: the no-cover Café Santa Cruz, in Baixa, housed since 1923 under the vaulted ceilings that used to be part of the adjacent 16th-century church and monastery. On the Thursday I went, the sparse audience was made up mostly of elderly couples sitting at rapt attention; the singers were two older gentlemen, former university students, with the caped outfits to prove it: Florentino Silva, a gentle 78-year-old, and Mário Gomes Pais, an impish-looking 56-year-old with a pointed chin, salt-and-pepper goatee and booming voice. Their voices echoed hauntingly off the cafe’s high ceilings. A Brazilian couple at the table next to me, who had lived in Coimbra when the husband was doing a master’s degree years before, sang along.

I was surprised at first to encounter a Brazilian who had studied in Coimbra. But I soon learned that Brazilians were everywhere, as were students and residents who hailed from other former Portuguese colonies, from Angola to Macao. When I spotted two seemingly African students, I faked needing directions to an art exhibit, hoping to find out where they were from. The fascinating answer: Guinea-Bissau, the tiny West African nation that won independence from Portugal in 1974. With Portugal’s economy crumbling, there was a poignancy in experiencing the vestiges of its once vast empire through these fellow visitors.

The student population may be international, but most of the restaurants in town are pure Portuguese. On my first day, I strolled along Rua das Azeiteiras, a pedestrian-only street in the Baixa that is loaded with restaurants. I activated my frugal sixth sense, analyzing the lunch menus posted outside and the crowds within, hoping to deduce which one had the finest meal for the least money.

I settled on A Cozinha, a cozy-looking place offering a 6 euro item called “secretos do porco preto com ananás,” which I translated as “secrets of black pork with pineapple.” Ah, what a story I could tell about such a cheap, wacky-sounding entree!

Unfortunately, my frugal sixth sense (if it exists at all) failed miserably, and my Portuguese (which is normally solid) followed suit. “Secretos” turned out to be a cut of meat, and “porco preto” referred to a breed — the Iberian black pig. Still promising … but they were out of the dish. I was stuck with a dull fish fillet.

Hoping to supplement my meal with some freebies, I dug into the chunks of hearty Portuguese bread and devoured a small wheel of cheese and some olives. What a great country, I thought: not only was the bread complimentary, but so were cheese and olives! Then the check came. I had been charged for everything: 1.25 euros for the bread, 3 for the cheese, even a euro for the two or three olives I had eaten. Final tally: a whopping 15.25 euros (about $19.75). A self-inflicted frugal failure: it turns out this is how things are done in Portugal.

I would later have some lovely meals, like the chanfana (goat stewed in red wine sauce; 7.50 euros) at Democrática, a sometimes rowdy student hangout. But it was at a bakery called Pastelaria Arco-Iris that I had my best drawn-out meal on a rainy day: fresh-squeezed orange juice, bread, a Portuguese chicken soup called canja, an espresso and flavorful pastries like filhoses de abóbora (squash fritters dusted with sugar). The final check was under 8 euros.

The real winner of the trip, though, was a cultural spot: the Museo Académico, a pay-what-you-will museum dedicated to the university itself, hidden on the second floor of an enormous academic building on Rua dos Estudos. When I walked in, a gray-haired man named António Dias leaped from his seat at the front desk.

“How much time do you have?” he asked. I said I had plenty.

“Good,” he said.

The bespectacled, multilingual Mr. Dias proceeded to give me a wonderful tour-for-one, recounting the history of the university and peppering me with questions to keep me on my toes. He pointed out pictures of how the vampire capes — er, traditional uniforms — had changed over the centuries, and showed me Coimbra fado guitars, semitorturous hazing tools used within the praxe system, and a ceramic wine vessel disguised as a book and labeled “Enciclopédia Vinícola.” I might never fully understand the capes, but music, hazing and hidden drinking – these were university themes that were all too familiar.

36 Hours in Mérida, Mexico

36 Hours in Mérida, Mexico
YUCATECANS are fiercely proud of their culture, sprinkling their Spanish with Mayan words and quick to recount the stories of resistance and revolution that set this region apart from the rest of Mexico for centuries. Somehow, those tales seem a little distant now in Yucatán’s capital, Mérida, a languid city of pastel mansions and evening promenades. The city, now one of the safest in Mexico, is an architectural jewel, and has one of the country’s largest historic centers outside Mexico City. Block after block of houses dating to the mid-19th century and earlier are in the midst of a restoration boom, and the city’s cultural and restaurant scenes are flourishing.
Friday

3 p.m.
1. YUCATECAN FEAST

Sample Yucatecan cuisine at the Hacienda Teya (Mérida-Cancún Highway, Kilometer 12.5; 52-999-988-0800; haciendateya.com), a 17th-century plantation that switched from cattle to henequen, used for making rope, at the end of the 19th century, and is just a 15-minute drive from downtown. From the colonial dining room, with walls that are filled with old photographs of Mérida in the early 1900s, the view stretches to the brilliant flamboyant trees that fringe the expansive grounds. Try the classics: sopa de lima, a fragrant chicken and tortilla soup flavored with lime juice (54 pesos, or about $4, at 13.7 pesos to the dollar); cochinita pibil, tangy slow-roasted pork marinated in citrus and a paste made from achiote seeds; or poc chuc, grilled pork marinated in sour orange juice (both 124 pesos).

5 p.m.
2. PROMENADE IN THE PLAZA

In the late afternoon, the whole city, it seems, congregates in the leafy Plaza Grande under the towers of Mérida’s austere 16th-century Cathedral of San Ildefonso. Have a sorbet at Sorbetería Colón on the north side (along 61st Street), then wander into the Governor’s Palace next door and take in the giant paintings depicting Yucatán’s violent history by the 20th-century Mérida-born artist Fernando Castro Pacheco. The Casa Montejo (506 63rd Street, 52-999-923-0633; museocasamontejo.com) on the south side, now a cultural center and museum, is the city’s oldest building, erected by Don Francisco Montejo, Yucatán’s conquistador, in the 1540s. Look for the carving of two Spanish conquistadors standing atop the heads of Indians on the facade. The four front rooms have been sumptuously restored to late-19th-century splendor. The gift shop sells excellent handicrafts. As night falls, walk north a few blocks to the small church of La Tercera Orden on the corner of 59th and 60th Streets, built by the Jesuits in 1618. You may catch a wedding or a quinceañera Mass.

9 p.m.
3. MOJITOS BY STARLIGHT

The outdoor bar at the Piedra de Agua hotel (498 60th Street, 52-999-924-2300; piedradeagua.com) has a spectacular view of the brilliantly lighted cathedral towers. Local groups play jazz and blues on Fridays. The specialties are mojitos (48 pesos) and lemon daiquiris accented with basil leaves (55 pesos). Try a pizza topped with huitlacoche, Mexico’s signature corn fungus (120 pesos).

Saturday

9 a.m.
4. CURBSIDE BREAKFAST

The Loría family have run the Wayan’e street stand for 20 years (92E 20th Street at 15th Street, Colonia Itzimná, 52-999-927-4160). They serve savory tacos and tortas throughout the morning, scooping fragrant fillings like smoky chicken fajitas and scrambled eggs with acelgas (Swiss chard) out of clay pots to customers seated at a stainless steel counter. All dishes are from 8 to 12 pesos.

11 a.m.
5. FROZEN IN TIME

During the henequen boom, when the agave plant was turned into rope for the world, Yucatán’s aristocratic landowners built magnificent houses, many of them now luxury hotels. But Hacienda Yaxcopoil (Federal Highway 261, Kilometer 186; 52-999-900-1193; yaxcopoil.com), about 20 miles south of Mérida, has been preserved as though in amber, a noble near-ruin where yellowing photos of the family that has owned it for five generations hang askew on the frescoed walls. For a fee of 50 pesos, you can wander through silent rooms offering a glimpse into the past, from the figurine of St. Geronimo in the chapel wearing a Yucatán straw hat, to French porcelain bathroom fixtures coated in dust. Mario Alberto Huchín Tun, 65, will give you a tour in Spanish; he is the third generation in his family to work on the hacienda. Take a taxi or hire a car service with a bilingual driver. Try Ralf Hollmann at Lawson’s Yucatán at 521-999-947-7599, lawsonsdriving.blogspot.com.

2 p.m.
6. A YUCATECAN DINER

At Chaya Maya (481 62nd Street at 57th Street, 52-999-928-4780), a woman in traditional Mayan dress makes corn tortillas in the window as families pile in. Try the house specialty, Los Tres Mosqueteros, or The Three Musketeers, which combines three classic Yucatecan dishes: relleno negro (a black sauce made from burnt chiles and spices) over pork; papadzul (an egg dish); and pipián (a sauce with a pumpkin seed base) over turkey, all for 70 pesos.

3 p.m.
7. GOODS TO RELAX IN

El Aguacate (604 58th Street, 52-999-928-6429; hamacaselaguacate.com.mx) sells hammocks for every budget. A finely woven cotton or nylon hammock, which takes about two months to weave, will cost about $175, but the cheapest one is about $20. (The store is in Mérida’s tiny red-light district, which is safe by day.) Back near the center, shop for a guayabera, a Cuban shirt worn untucked. It was a favorite with early 20th-century Yucatecan grandees, who would go to Cuba to stock up. After the Cuban Revolution, Yucatecans began making their own. A polyester-cotton blend at Guayaberas Jack (507A 59th Street, 52-999-928-6002; guayaberasjack.com.mx) costs about $30, and an embroidered linen model popular with Mexican presidents sells for about $170.

7 p.m.
8. FINE FOLK

Every Saturday, the city stages a free show for tourists and locals alike, featuring folk dancing, comedy, mariachi, marimba and romantic trova music (1 Paseo de Montejo at 49th Street, 52-999-928-1800; hotelcasasanangel.com). You can watch from the street or have a drink on the terrace of the Hotel Casa San Angel. For more information on cultural events, check “Yucatán Today,” the city’s free bilingual monthly tourist guide, yucatantoday.com.

9 p.m.
9. CHOCOLATE DELIGHT

At the restaurant inside Mérida’s newest boutique hotel, Rosas & Xocolate (480 Paseo de Montejo at 41st Street, 52-999-924-2992; rosasandxocolate.com), try the catch of the day prepared on a fried tortilla accompanied by prickly pear salad (180 pesos) or duck served with singed corn, local sausage, melon compote and a chile and raisin sauce (220 pesos).

11 p.m.
10. SMILIN’ IRISH

An Irish pub seems as though it would be out of place, but Hennessy’s Irish Pub (486A Paseo de Montejo, 52-999-923-8993; hennessysirishpub.com) is Mérida’s hippest night spot. The photos of the Irish countryside and ’80s classics on the soundtrack seem a little off, but the outdoor terrace on the Paseo de Montejo fills up.

Sunday

9 a.m.
11. RIDING DOWN THE AVENUE

Grab coffee at Café la Habana (corner of 59th and 62nd Streets, 52-999-928-0608), then explore the Paseo de Montejo, lined with Beaux Arts-style mansions, most of them built with henequen money. The most stunning is the Palacio Cantón, which houses the Regional Anthropology Museum (485 Paseo de Montejo, 52-999-923-0469; admission: 41 pesos). The street is closed to traffic to make way for cyclists between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. every Sunday. Bikes are available for 15 pesos an hour from municipal offices at the corner of 62nd and 63rd Streets or along the avenue. For a map, go to merida.gob.mx/biciruta/.

Noon
12. TWO-STEP BACK IN TIME

Mérida’s old-time dancers go to the temporary stage at Santa Lucía Park, at 60th and 55th Streets, where they dance Mexican danzón and cha-cha-cha to live music under a canopy. The dancers’ moves recall a bygone time of smoky dance halls, and they dress the part.

IF YOU GO

Rosas & Xocolate (480 Paseo de Montejo at 41st Street, 52-999-924-2992; rosasandxocolate.com) is a 17-room luxury boutique hotel in two 1930s renovated mansions, decorated with the bright colors of the tropics. Even the spa serves chocolate treatments. Rates from $215 plus tax, includes full breakfast.

Los Arcos (448B 66th Street, 52-999-928-0214; losarcosmerida.com) is a three-room bed-and-breakfast in a renovated 1890s house crammed with bric-a-brac collected by the owner, David Reed, who serves breakfast in his luscious garden. Rates from $85.

Hotel Eclipse (491 57th Street, between 58th and 60th Streets, 52-999-923-1600; eclipsehotel.com.mx) has 14 rooms, all designed around a theme (lava, disco, zen). It is relatively cheap at 900 pesos a night (about $65), or less, with one of the hotel’s frequent promotions.