Page 93 - WDT MAGAZINE PORTUGAL

collections containing the written knowledge of the Another favorite experience in Coimbra was the fado
16th-18th centuries. Photos are prohibited here and concert we attended our last evening. The haunting folk
groups move in and out of the room on a strict schedule. music often called Portugal’s soul began in the Alfama
Two-foot thick walls and the giant teak entrance district of Lisbon. Coimbra students brought the
door provide stable temperatures and humidity ensuring tradition to the University, where only men perform the
conservation of the collection. The builders also were distinctive music to woo potential lady friends from the
aware of the threat posed to books by insects, so they city streets. Tradition requires a strict dress code for the
made the bookcases out of oak wood which has a scent singers who don university cassocks and black capes.
that repels them. They also introduced a colony of bats Fado ao Centro, where we enjoyed an early evening
that spend each night dining on book-eating bugs. Aware concert, offers performances that combine a brief
that bats leave souvenirs, special crews cover the history of the genre with live performances in an
bookcases and tables with protective leather towels each intimate setting. If you’re more of a night owl, you can
afternoon when the library closes. also enjoy fado concerts around town starting later in the
evening and often lasting well past midnight.

92 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2019