Late autumn trip to Guimarães

Guimarães is a beautiful and traditional city set in the north part of Portugal with lots of landmarks to offer. It is considered to be the founding city of Portugal and one of the reasons is because Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal was born there. However, there were many other settlements that set the scene for the foundation of the country, but Guimarães remained the most important one.

The beauty and authenticity of the city can be seen simply by walking through the narrow hilly streets or going up to the highest hills to explore the castles. Some of the most important landmarks in the city are the Castle of Guimarães and the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza. There you will learn a lot about Portuguese culture and history and the foundation of the new country.

Thus, since it was on our list for quite some time we decided to visit it as a day trip and it was more than enough.

The easiest way to get to Guimarães

Since the bus stop was next to Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave we decided that the easiest way to get to Guimarães would be to catch the bus, as with the train we had to make two changes. Thus, early in the morning we caught the bus and paid 3.60 euros each for the ride. However, the bus driver told us that we have to change the bus in Braga and catch another one to Guimarães using the same ticket. So, we followed his instructions and in an hour we were in the founding city of Portugal.

Although, there is an easy way to go to Guimarães from Porto-Campanhã station or Porto-São Bento station using the train, which in most of the cases is direct and the price is around 3 euros. The ride usually takes around one hour, so it is a good option if u reside in Porto.

Sightseeing in Guimarães

We started our day trip from Guimarães shopping where our bus stopped. Thus, once we were out of the shopping center we continued straight and started walking up the hills to reach the historical sights first. When we reached the palace of the Dukes of Braganza we decided to get a combined ticket for the palace, the castle and the museum of Alberto Sampaio, which held one of the finest historical artefacts of Portugal. The price of the combined ticket was 8 euros and if you bring your student card you can get a 50% discount.

Palace of the Dukes of Braganza

The palace of the Dukes of Braganza was built around the 14th century by the Count of Barcelos, Afonso. For quite some time it was home to the first Dukes of Braganza, but around the 16th century, they moved to Vila Viçosa. Thus, the palace of the Dukes remained uninhabited for quite some time and the locals started using some parts of it for building their own houses.

Once we entered the palace we noticed that it was built around a square courtyard and had a lovely second floor with nice terraces. In front of the entrance of the palace, we could easily spot the triangle roof of the chapel inside the palace.

After a bit of walking around the courtyard and the open storage, carpenters’ rooms and main hall we went to the second floor by following an old granite staircase. There we had to give our tickets to the responsible person for validation and then we entered the huge rooms made out mainly of rocks with wooden ceilings. Some of the rooms were decorated in a very beautiful and authentic Portuguese way and most of them still had the original fireplaces that were warming the Dukes back in the days.

My favourite rooms in the palace became the Banquet Hall, that had a huge dining table where all the Dukes were gathering. Furthermore, the “Hall of Lost Steps” was a nicely decorated room with a fascinating ceiling designed to resemble the base of a boat. Then, we proceeded to the chapel inside the palace that was made entirely of wood and had beautifully hand-painted windows in various colours.

Church of São Miguel do Castelo

Once we were done with the palace of the Dukes of Braganza we went a bit up the hill where we saw a tiny church. The church was not decorated like the one we saw in the palace of the Dukes, but it is considered to be an important historical monument of Portugal. Its importance is related to the belief of many people that the first Duke of Braganza, Afonso was baptized here, due to the many inscriptions within the church suggesting that.

However, the church is located in a very strategic position on the Largo hill, as it is exactly in the middle between the palace and the castle of Guimarães. Thus, from there you can get a pretty nice view over the palace of the Dukes from above and also to the castle of Guimarães.

Castelo de Guimarães

Last but not least, we visited the castle of Guimarães, which was standing tall on the top of the hill. It is a huge building made entirely of rock and had a couple of towers overlooking in different directions around the city and had a nice view of the palace of the Dukes too. In addition to that, the castle also had a main tower that you could go into and learn a lot the Portuguese royal families, important battles and the Portuguese culture.

The main purpose for the castle to be built on the top of the hill was due to the numerous attacks over the region from the Vikings and the Moorish people. Thus, around the 10thcentury Mumadona, the countess of Galicia ordered a castle to be built on the Largo hill, so the people can protect themselves from the attackers. Later, when the kingdom of Portugal emerged a lot of battles were fought for the protection of the kingdom’s independence.

Guimarães Shopping

After our exhausting trip around the main historical sights, we went straight back to the shopping center of Guimarães so we can have lunch. While there we also found some good stores for clothes and make-up like the Kiko store from where we bought some necessary girly stuff.

Museu de Alberto Sampaio

Once we were done with our lunch break, we went again to the historic center of Guimarães and straight to the museum of Alberto Sampaio, which was built over an old monastery. Once we were in the museum we could see the remaining parts of the monastery and its courtyard.

The museum holds rich collections of the riches of come churches around Guimarães and mainly those of Church of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira. Some of the most prominent collections it holds are those of the goldsmiths, sculptures and crosses.

Igreja e Oratórios de Nossa Senhora da Consolação e Santos Passos

When we went out of the museum, we went straight ahead to Our lady of consolation church, which was a bit down the road. It is a beautiful church built in the authentic Gothic Portuguese style along with two towers on its top and a watch. Before the church is a nice boulevard with a straight garden leading to the church.

Largo da Oliveira

Then, we went a bit back to the Largo da Oliveira that was next to the museum. There we saw Our Lady of Oliveira church, which was founded again by Mumadona, the countess of Galicia. The church is a bit older than the previous one, as it was built around the 10th century and has one big watchtower on top. It is again built in the authentic Portuguese Gothic style and entirely of granite blocks. In front of the church, we saw a huge olive tree that gave the name to the square and next to it there is a small Gothic shrine that was built in memory of the battle of Salado.

We walked around the square for a bit, enjoying the beautifully decorated houses with Christmas lights. In the end, we decided to sit for a drink at Cinecitta snack bar, which had a happy hour, so we got a pretty good discount for our drinks.

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