Conimbriga (24/10/2014)

I decided to visit the roman ruins of Conimbriga located 20km south of Coimbra. I took an early morning bus to the village of Condeixa-a-Nova and then walked a couple of kilometers to reach the entrance of the archaeological site. The ticket with student discount cost 2,50€ and included both the ruins and the small museum. The archaeological site is considered to be one of the best preserved in the Iberian Peninsula. I started my visit by following the roman road that headed towards the center of the town, where the roman forum once stood. The area where the site is located, used to be inhabited already in the 9th century BC and when the Romans came around 139 BC they started building what we can see today. Some domus houses are now located outside the walls, constructed on top of other houses to defend the population from Suebian invaders, that inevitably conquered and sacked the city forcing the roman population to seek refuge in Aeminium nowadays Coimbra. I turned left right before the main gate and saw several interesting mosaics such as those of the House of the Swastika and that of the House of Skeletons. Further on I passed by where the baths once stood and reached the biggest domus in Conimbriga, the House of Cantaber, that did not have any mosaics left, but presented a well kept impluvium and overall plan of the many rooms it had. I then walked on and reached the great thermal building built overlooking the ravine of the river flowing right around the town. After that I passed by the remains of the forum and then back out through the main gate, where I reached the really nice House of the Fountains. This was the only domus that had a protective cover built since most of its mosaics are nearly perfectly preserved. In fact the colors were still very bright as was with their geometric patterns and figures. The peristyle, that still had a few columns and water running through it, was surrounded by beautiful mosaics such as that showing a group of horsemen, Perseus holding the head of Medusa, one with dolphins, and one with sea monsters and fish. After the visit of the ruins, it was time to head to the small museum that contained the several archaeological remains found when digging up the site. The visit was over and I decided to head back home, as previously decided; by foot. The 20km took me nearly 5 hours but it was a pleasant walk as I also thought that even though I had visited many roman ruins back in Italy, this one really surprised me especially with its wonderful mosaics.

Mosaic of the House of the Skeletons

View from the ruins

View of a part of the House of Cantaber

Mosaic of Perseus holding the head of medusa