It’s almost dark in Coimbra, the university town north of Lisbon. The tangled medieval streets have quieted down, and the swallows that were darting about have roosted, perhaps in the crumbling stone of a 12-century church.

I’ve tried to capture the charm of this place with my camera, but the lens doesn’t record the surprise of spying a flower-decked arch in a hidden square. Or the warmth of the light that touches just the top of a medieval belfry.

So let me add some sound effects. Imagine them all with the clink of a glass, the strum of a guitar, and an open-mouthed traveler murmuring “ahhhhh.”