Braga in a day

Hello once again! Today I am going to talk about Braga, a city which is situated in the North of Portugal. I went there in 2017 with two of my friends. We did a small route around Portugal, passing through some towns and Braga was our final destination. We were only there for an afternoon, but you don't need any more time if you just want to see the essential stuff.

We got there and we parked a little in the suburbs of the city so that we could park for free. We walked to the centre (it didn't take us very long) and then we walked through the streets, where there are lots of religious buildings. In the centre, the most important building is the Cathedral, which of course, is the oldest one in Portugal according to what they told us.

We took some photos and we walked through the main square, which was called Republic Square where there was a fountain with lots of spouts where people were freshening up due to how hot it was. There, like in many cities, l there was a sculpture with giant letters that spelt out the name of the city. After we got hold of a leaflet where you could see all of the religious buildings, since the tourism in this city is mainly centered around this.

After walking through the historic centre, we went to a cafe to have a tea, a coffee and a couple of... It was really warm and we were quite tired since the atmosphere was quite intense. The following day, in the evening, the devastating fires which would go on to destroy millions of hectares of land in Galicia and Portugal begun.

When we had rested up, we went back to get the car and we went to the most famous attraction in Braga: Bom Jesus do Monte. It is in the suburbs so we had a long car journey. Finally, we parked and we started walking for quite a while. At least in this area, there are quite a lot of trees which gave as shade at that time. However, the thousand stairs that we had to climb made it torturous. Finally, we got to the top of the sanctuary from which there are magnificent views. If I had to choose, I don't know if I would stick with the view from below everything, where you can see the stairs and the sanctuary and their symmetry or with the views that you can see from above of the whole city. Also, staying there to admire the sunset is amazing.

Here, it isn't just the sanctuary but also the gardens which seem to form a scene from a fairy tale. It is a mix of nature and water. There is a small cave which seems like it is guarded by stalactites. It is beautiful because it is surrounded by colourful plants and flowers. Right on top there is a kind of temple. You can access the cave through a cobbled pathway and it is really cool. This area stands out quite a lot against the gardens of the rest of the sanctuary because they are a lot more cared for and organised, forming perfect arabesques. When we went, they were celebrating a wedding there and there was a great atmosphere. People everywhere were dressed elegantly and there was an atmosphere of joy and happiness. There are also restaurants and cafes to have a drink at which have fantastic views.

Look out! During the incline, there are fountains but they do not contain drinking water, so I recommend that you take a water bottle with you, especially if you go on a really hot day like we did. I also recommend that you go on a clear day, since I think that this place benefits a lot from the sun because the colours of the buildings and nature are far more vibrant.

We found out later that in the suburbs, there is also a pretty basilisk called the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sameiro. I don't know why it wasn't featured in our guide, but if we went back to Braga one day, of course we would go back and see it, since it is only a 10 minute drive away from Boom Jesus do Monto, or 20 minutes from the city centre.

In conclusion, Braga is a small city but with a lot of charm and once more it reflects many of the characteristics of any Portuguese city: churches, cathedrals, buildings adorned with tiles. It is ideal if you are doing a road trip around Portugal since it is worth passing the centre. It is also amazing if you want to have a weekend getaway to escape your routine a little. The best idea is to combine it with other cities which are nearby such as Porto, Viana do Castelo or Ponte de Lima. This will give you a full picture of the essence of Portugal.

And that is all for today's post. I hope that you now have more motivation to visit Portugal, which we have right next door and sometimes it seems like we don't make the most of that. As they say: "you don't have to go very far. " Thank you for reading and we shall see each other again soon.

Photo gallery