Bom Jesus do Monte (Braga)
The next morning we first drove to the Bom Jesus do Monte (Braga), a place of pilgrimage. We had seen so many fantastic pictures of this place and in reality it was indeed beyond beautiful. Indeed, as expected there were a lot of stairs!
We had parked our car at the top and started our visit from there. The panoramic view of the city was amazing. It was certainly a place that, according to us, should not be missed when visiting the North of Portugal.
On our way down we saw 5 fountains that represented the different senses ‘Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch and Taste’, statues, sculptures and chapels.
Because the day was still long, we decided to do the hike all the way down and then take the cable car back up :-).
Braga Center
We continued to the center of Braga. The town was definitely amongst the most beautiful ones that we had seen during our road trip in Portugal … also the place with the most churches…
We strolled through the streets and finally took a rest while tasting the cod cookies.
Mount Penha and Guimaraes
On our way back, we stopped in another medieval city, Guimaraes. We first took the teleférico to go to the top of Mount Penha. It was a pilgrimage site with picnic tables, mini golf and walking routes.
Back down, we visited the old center of the city, which turned out to be a succession of restaurants and terraces. A bit far for our diner this evening, but very nice that we passed here.
Again we had an incredibly nice day, so we were very satisfied !
Dinner at Monverde Hotel
The day ended with a nice dinner in our hotel. This time we had made reservations in advance so we had been able to take the 4-moment menu : risotto with cod, monkfish, lamb in pistachio crust and chocolate with red fruits. We enjoyed all of the food.
On top of the food we also ordered for Koen the accompanying wines for 10 € and they just kept pouring. Lucky there was no need to drive ! I had told the waiter that I was not going to take the wines as I could not drink so much, one glass was more than enough, but there was no way out :-). I was obliged to taste the wines (all white) so I did. Koen made the error to ask about their red wines and got 2 extra glasses to taste … really, it weren’t tasters but seriously filled glasses !!! You should have seen the collection of empty and not so empty glasses that decorated our table at the end of the evening… You would never believe that this was for 2 persons!
In any case, the Monverde hotel was a great location for a couple of nights. It was located between the vineyards, very picturesque but also excellent for the food (and the wine tasting :-))! Do not forget to order the menu one day in advance, otherwise you need to order from the menu. It was a bit weird to decide already a day in advance what you wanted to eat, but probably they had to know it to make sure they had enough wine glasses available :-).
