Busy Weekend in a Quiet Braga

Braga is the third largest city in Portugal. We hit it on the May Day holiday weekend and it was not at all happening; conspicuously absent of any May Day events (May 01 is International Workers' Day). However, the city did put on various cultural events, including an organ music festival -- we caught two sessions in the series.

We were mainly using Braga as a base for visiting:

1) Guimaraes (pronounced give-me-rash really fast)
Guimaraes, a university town, lacked the usual liveliness. It was a European Cultural Capital a few ago, though I found it only moderately interesting. We then charged up the hill of Penha which turned out to be very satisfying, the panoramic views, interesting rock formations, impressive shrine....

2) Citania Briteiros
Citania Briteiros is a Celtic (or Castro) site from the first two centuries BCE. Having hit so many Roman sites lately, we found the round buildings highly unusual; the ritual bath site incredible! Though geographically within Guimaraes, we concluded it is only possible to visit on public transport on a Sunday from Braga. From the bus stop, there is a well marked trail that goes to 2kms the site and then 2kms more to the museum; then ~3 kms back to bus stop on the third side of the triangle.

3) Bom Jesus do Monte
Bom Jesus is a church on a hill in the suburb of Braga, famous for its Baroque staircase. We had been forewarned of is underwhelming-ness; it was over even faster than I had expected; though it remains very impressive looking to me. We then walked up farther up the hill to another church, Sameiro, for a more sweeping view.

While none of the sites are particularly spectacular, combined with walking/hiking, made Braga more enjoyable for us.

Braga's City Gate, which is at the lower end of a long pedestrian-only street.


A free concert in the Cathedral to open the Organ Festival.


View in Guimaraes looking up to Penha (upper left). We walked up (photos below) and took the cable car down.




The two main sights in Guimaraes are the Ducal Palace and the Castle.




There are several lovely squares in the Old Town.




We stopped at Clarinha's for soup, a beer, and a taste of the town's specialty pastries.


Oh, and Guimaraes is said to be the birthplace of Portugal; the first king was born here.


Then up the hill to Penha. On the way up we see this guy doing some laundry in an old fashioned stone lavandería. A trend. Stay tuned.




Big stones at the top.


View back to Guimaraes.


The church at the top of the Penha.




And down on the teleférico (cable car).


Back in Guimaraes, we catch another concert of the Organ Festival; this one in another church.


Then a night walk around town.




We take bus #83 to the Braga-Guimaraes border, and walk 2 kms to Citânia de Briteiros, the ruins of a fortified Bronze Age settlement, on a wet, cloudy, windy day.
















And the incredible Baths.


And the main stone from another bathhouse is in the site museum.


And on the morning before we take an afternoon train to Viana do Castleo, we take bus #23 to the foot of the famous stairs that lead up to Bom Jesus de Monte; with fountains, chapels, and statues abounding.










View from the top.


And over to the Santuario Sameiro with its massive portal.


And some final shots of Braga, including my "taste testing" ;-) of a McDonald's McVeggie - it was OK.

Granite Soajo

We selected Soajo as our base for visiting the Peneda-Geres National Park for accessibility and availability of accommodations. Accessibility means weekday only buses, but a midday bus on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We arrived on a Wednesday and left on Friday, and had 48 hours of granite. We stayed in a granite house, walked on granite roads, looked at granite grain storage, mills, tanks....

The grain storage structures were particularly interesting. They look like coffins to the unsuspecting; the locals call them espigueiros. We read that they were specifically instrumented to store corn, a New World crop that ripened late into the summer when the rains started. I had expected to see a handful. Instead we must have come across upwards a hundred in dozens of locations. Awesome!

We rented a small house on the outskirts of Soajo.


The house was very close to a cluster of espigueiros, granite granaries.




Soajo, the town, has character.






The communal clothes washing tank.


And a nice viewpoint. Notice the granite-reinforced terracing in the 2nd photo below.




We took three very nice walks. The first, down to the nearby river and back up.




The second, a 20-kilometer ramble up to the high ridge separating Soajo from Peneda, then back....We see some lambs has we leave town.


The first part of the walk is on the old granite road going up, up, up.








We saw only these two hikers the whole day - plus some cows.




Old mill house; mill powered by water.


Inside the mill.


The cattle in this area have distinctive horns.


Continuing on the old roads to the hamlet of Adrao.






Sun-Ling gets me to pause for a photo.


Looking back at Adrao.


Finally up to 900 meters and we take a break a the cross and the weather stations with a fine view NORTH to the villages of Peneda (right) and Gavieira (left) and Tibo (below).






And back to town, partially on the paved road. Here's a close look at a granite wall. Beautiful.


We also saw some domed stone structures. Some were dwellings, some were mills (we guess).




And a third stroll on the morning before we catch buses to Braga.


Passing an irrigation channel (at right).


Loads of ferns along this part of the old road.




Stone bridge.










Check out the ruts in the road; put there on purpose I believe to keep the wagons from sliding off the rock.


Almost back to Soajo.


More mills.


Just before I took this pic, a surefooted older lady with a stout walking stick breezed by us headed downhill.


Getting ready to plow.