A Fountain of Tears

Some wonders are rooted in language - and connotations.

The title of this entry can refer to both a poetic expression of profound grief and, as it happens in Coimbra, a physical structure that is a small part of a much bigger whole. As a figure of speech, it's a beautiful metaphor but maybe a bit too familiar one by now, to be considered a wonder. The bigger whole in question, "Quinta das Lagrimas" doesn't have that particular disadvantage. Even if you don't speak any Portuguese, its name is quaintly ear-pleasing. However, it's the actual meaning of the phrase that is strikingly unusual and, in some way, even intellectually disturbing - and it's the "quinta" part that is responsible for the effect. Both its meanings, "villa" and, in particular, "estate" are oddly incongruous with "Lagrimas" that is simply Portuguese for "tears".

The incongruity implies a troubled past full of dark secrets - such as a guilty love affair, an assassination, a macabre revenge...and a lasting memory. None of it is actually seen on the site occupied by a 5-star hotel and a quiet park, a proverbial oasis in the middle of the town. The park combines the best of both worlds: quality services represented by the hotel and a golf school,

and Nature, somehow both unadulterated and refined. There are 51 kinds of trees in the park, and its arboreal map looks like a geography lesson: English oak, Peruvian mastic tree, Aleppo pine, Chinese scholar tree and Chinese wisteria, Japanese zelkova, cedar of Goa and Himalayan cedar... 

On the other hand, Man teamed up with Nature to enhance the charm of the place. Fountain of Love appeared, to counterbalance the Fountain of Tears;

neo-Gothic ruins and a romantic garden were built to emphasize the history and mystery associated with the Estate that had become a silent character in, arguably, the most famous piece of Portuguese literature - the "Lusiads" by Luis de Camoes.

The aura and the fame of the poetic Estate attracted several noble visitors, King Miguel of Portugal, the Emperor of Brazil and the Duke of Wellington among them. One of the trees planted to commemorate the latter's visit, bears a stone tablet displaying one of Camoes' stanzas.

Famous as it is, "Quinta das Lagrimas" might be Coimbra's best kept secret in plain sight.