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VisitEurope.PT Coimbra tourism - Figueira da Foz (Portugal)

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jorgetavares.planetaclix.pt Figueira da Foz is a city of the district of Coimbra, in Portugal. It is located at the mouth of the Mondego river, 40 km west of Coimbra, and sheltered by the Serra (mountain) da Boa Viagem. The city proper has a population of 27742 and the municipality has in total 62601 inhabitants. It is a coastal city with several beaches, summer and seaport facilities in the Atlantic Ocean coast. As a city of tourism it plays an important part in the centre of the country. A zone of legal gambling, you find here one of the biggest casinos of the Iberian Peninsula -- the Casino Peninsular. According to the legend the place's name is due to a fig tree, which stood at the quay of Salmanha, where the fishermen used to tie up their boats. The historian Nelson Borges said, however, that Figueira comes from the word "fagaria", which means "opening, huge mouth". Foz comes from the Latin word "fouces" = "mouth of a river", and Mondego comes from the pre-romanic expressions "mond" = "mouth" and "aec"= "river". That means, Figueira da Foz would be "the river's mouth opening". Some historical traces show that people were settling in this region since the neolithic age. The oldest known document, however, dates from the year 1096. In this an abbot named Pedro donates estates, which belonged to the church of S. Julião, to the cathedral Sé Velha of Coimbra. Knowing the great importance rivers had in the development of cities and of ancient civilizations, the mouth of...
Category
Central (Centro)
Tags
jorge, tavares, figueira da foz, Mondego, atlantic, ocean, sea, portugal
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