Outstanding Origins

Bob happened to be up at 5:00 a.m. this morning, and when he looked out the window, there were stars everywhere! This is one of the advantages of staying in a rural setting. Another is the view one gets in the morning at breakfast, while sitting on the patio overlooking the Douro River. Needless to say, we were reluctant to leave Quinta de la Rosa, but leave we did.

Quinta de la Rosa

Breakfast on the patio

We so enjoyed our drive along the Douro yesterday, that we did it again this morning, retracing our route part of the way before heading north. I took more pictures this time, since the morning light added to the beauty of the scene.

The beautiful Douro Valley

Do any of you remember how we used to create a centrepiece for our tables with a candle in an empty bottle of Mateus Rose? Well, our first stop today was the estate of Mateus. He did well on those bottles we bought back in the 70s! The gardens are lovely and the house is palacial, at least from the outside. We opted not to enter since we had to wait an hour for a tour, but we took lots of exterior shots of the place.

Mateus' mansion

Mateus garden

Next, we made out way to the lovely town of Guimaraes, the birthplace of the nation in 1139, its first capital. (Subsequent ones were Coimbra, and, of course, Lisbon.) It has a gorgeous medieval town centre, perfectly preserved as befits a UNESCO World Heritage site. After parking the car, we found our way to the centre of town, where we enjoyed lunch under an umbrella in one of the plazas that are common in this place. Then we visited the Paco dos Duques (Ducal Palace), perfectly restored to its former glory. This was a bonus since our guide book said it would be closed on Mondays. 

We had lunch under one of those umbrellas

The great room at the Ducal Palace

We took our time exploring Guimaraes, since it really was a special place, but by late afternoon, we were ready to travel to our final stop of the day, the Northern city of Braga. It is the seat of Portugal’s archbishops, and the country’s religious capital.

Emblematic of this is Bom de Jesus, a sanctuary/tourist attraction east of the city. It has layers of steps, following the way of the cross. We climbed down all the levels and then climbed up again. Another interesting feature are the fountains on each tier, where water flows from a different part of the face: the eyes, the nose, the ears, the mouth. These represent the wounds of Jesus, I think.

Bom de Jesus

Our hotel in Braga, the Bracara Augusta, is our most luxurious yet. Instead of a room, we have a suite, complete with a welcoming fruit basket and terrycloth robes. The adjacent restaurant, Centurium, is where we chose to have dinner. There, we were treated like celebrities, with appetizers on the house to start the meal, and port on the house to end it. In between, the food was delicious, although there was too much of it. We will have to climb a lot more steps to work off that meal!

Our bedroom in the Bracara Augusta