The District of Coimbra is a Portuguese, pertenciente district to a large extent to the traditional province of Coastal Beira, although several councils of their part this were divided between the provinces of High Beira and Beira Baixa. It limits the north with the District of Aveiro and the District of Viseu, to the east with the District of Guard and the District of Castelo Branco, to the south with the District of Leiria and to the west with the Atlantic Ocean. Area: 3947 km² (12º greater Portuguese district). Resident population (2001): 441 245 hab. Seat of the district: Coimbra.
The main geographic characteristic of the district of Coimbra is the valley of the Mondego river, that dominates the landscape in all West of the district and constitutes, with valleys of two of its affluents, the Alva river and the river Ceira, the main characteristics of the Eastern zone. The district is divided, then, in two halves:
In the western one a coastal plain extends, crossed, to the south, by the inferior course of the Mondego. This area prolongs the coastal plain of the district of Aveiro and has the greater altitude (not more than 200 ms) in the Cabo Mondego, near Figueira gives Foz. to the east, on the contrary, the mountains rise. To the northwest of this area, the relief very is still not pronounced, with the Mountain range do Buçaco reaching only 549 ms of altitude. But to the Southeast it dominates the mountainous system of the Mountain range gives Estrela, with the Mountain range of Lousã arriving until the 1205 ms of altitude, and the Mountain range of Açor until the 1418 ms. The district finishes in the heat of flowing western of the mountain range gives Estrela, to little more than 10 km of the greater altitudes of the Portuguese continental territory.
As it were already seen, the Mondego dominates to the hydrography, running of the northeast to southwest in the superior course and of this a the west in the inferior course, where it is surrounded by marshy lands. All the district is integrated in its hydrographic river basin, with the exception of the North coast and of the Southeastern extremity, and all the other main rivers are their affluents. The Alva river crosses the Eastern zone of the district, of this a the west, just as the river Ceira, a little more to the south. The Corvo river, on the other hand, runs closely together of the south to north, ending at the Mondego of Coimbra, like the Soure river, to the West and the Carnide river, more to the west. All these rivers are affluent of the left margin of the Mondego, that practically does not have affluents in the right margin in the district of Coimbra. In the Southeast of the district, the Pampilhosa river is an affluent of the right margin of the Zézere river. The same Zézere serves as border with the district of Castelo Branco.
Coimbra became the average age in a shining center of culture mozárabe. The strength, transformed into real castle, was given to the bishopric later, that installed the first Great Schools of the country there. The tourist interest of the present city, that is first of all an historical city, comes from the eventful journeys, from century XVI of its student life. During the Renaissance, the real schools were replaced by the Alpaca two Estudos (palace of the studies), tie to a remarkable center of art that did of the city, during certain time, the Portuguese capital of the sculpture.
Main hollydays: Every four years (even years), at the beginning of July, celebrations of Reina santa in Santa Clara: nocturnal procession, folclor; every year, at the end of August, romería to the Senhor gives Serra.
