Surrounded by groves of olive trees and rolling hills, Conímbriga is home to one of the Iberian Peninsula's most important archaeological sites. It began as a small settlement in Celtic or possibly pre-Celtic times. In 27 BC, on his second Iberian visit, the emperor Augustus established a Roman province that came to be called Lusitania. It was during this period that, as the Portuguese historian Jorge Alarcão wrote, "Conímbriga was transformed by the Romans from a village where people just existed into a city worth visiting." It still is. There is a café at the on-site museum for refreshments, though you’ll find a broader choice of bars and restaurants in the town of Condeixa-a-Velha, where archaeologists believe still more Roman remains await excavation.
When there was every reason in the world to stay away and see the ruins, one woman traveled to Greece to get to work.
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