Santa Cruz Café

Occupying a former chapel of the neighbouring Santa Cruz monastery, this historic café in central Coimbra sits beneath soaring Gothic and neo-Manueline vaulting, stained glass and carved stone. Converted for its present use in the early twentieth century, it became a gathering place for students, poets and academics of the ancient university, and it retains an atmosphere of faded grandeur. Live fado is sometimes performed among the columns. Its unusual setting on a busy downtown square makes it a landmark in its own right.