Coimbra and Rio Mondego

Portugal is the southwestern-most country in Europe, sharing a border with Spain to the north and east, and bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. It is in the Mediterranean climate zone, similar to California where I currently am. This climatic similarity is one of the reasons why I'm in Portugal: my professor Matt Kondolf is a hydro-geomorphologist specializing in Mediterranean rivers, which often share the same fate of "too much rain in the winter, not enough (or none) in the summer."

Click to enlarge this map of southwestern Europe.














Some people I met in Coimbra are proud of the fact that Rio Mondego is the largest river that lies entirely in Portugal. Its headwaters start in the mountains of Estrela, within national borders. The river has played a historical role in shaping the development of the city, as revealed by the five local stakeholders I interviewed. Professor Santiago Faria's PhD dissertation on the urban history of Coimbra also hints of the role of the river has played in the development of Coimbra.

Click to enlarge this map of Portugal's major rivers.