Watery Encounters

This walk offers a series of sonic encounters with the Rio Mondego, which highlight the history, ecology and present positioning of the river. It also offers invitations to reflect on human relations with rivers more widely, including how we connect as 'bodies of water', the ways in which we meet and interact, different understandings of what (or who) a river is and how we can form more balanced and reciprocal relations with our watery friends. The walk begins at the Arco da Traição entrance to the Jardim Botânico, in Coimbra and ends near the Pedro e Inês footbridge, on the Mondego River. Accessibility: The route is step free or has step free options, but some of the paths are steep or uneven and may not be suitable for people with limited mobility. The walk was created for the Shaping Ecological Futures conference, at the University of Coimbra in October 2026, and was supported by DGArtes, Portugal. A Portuguese version of the walk is also available.