Day 28: Beautiful Braga

Today's Tuesday, and it's another perfect day in Portugal. This morning I woke up before sunrise and walked across the bridge over the Duro to catch Porto at sunrise. I got to the middle of the bridge before I remembered how terrified I am of heights. There I was, standing on a three-foot-wide metal sidewalk, with a guard rail lower than my waist, a strong wind blowing, and the tram rushing by six inches away (with no barrier). I can't imagine what I was thinking! I managed to slowly shuffle to the other side of the river (with all the locals walking past me like I was crazy).

Once I got to the other side, I got some beautiful pictures just as the sun came up. Rather than shuffle back, I caught the metro (since our day pass was valid until 9 AM) back to town and shot some more pictures as the city woke up. (You should see the McDonalds in Porto.) Then I headed back to the hotel for breakfast with Kathy. The prices in Portugal are so low that we could stay at a really nice hotel for less than we paid for some of the budget places in other parts of Europe; the buffet even had scrambled eggs.

After breakfast, we took one last walk through the town, picked up some pastieries at the town market, checked out of the hotel, and went down to the train station. Today, we were going to the University town of Braga in the northern state of Minho, about an hour north of Porto by regional commuter train. We got to the train station just as the 10:45 train pulled out of the station, and the next one wasn´t for an hour. We checked to make sure we could use our rail pass on the regionals and that we didn't need a reservation, then Kathy found a bench and sat down to read her book while I went to visit a few of the churches we hadn't seen yet.

As I went into the church across from the train station, the service was just starting, so I grabbed a pew and stayed for a while. It was really beautiful inside, with the light streaming down from the high ceiling. Afterwards, I walked over to the church that overlooks the city, and then back to the station.

Our train left right on time at 11:45 and stopped at every little station between Porto and Braga, where we arrived at 1:00 PM. There was no Tourist Information in the train station, but I had a map from a Lonely Planets guidebook, and I knew, more or less, where our hotel was located, so we set off walking. It turned out to be about a kilometer and a half from the train station.

We're staying at the Residential Hotel Donna Sofia which is located on a pretty little square about a block from the Cathedral. Even though we were a little early, we were able to check right in. Our room is really nice and has a view of the square.

Our first task was to find the Tourist Office, get a map, and then find some lunch. Braga is a really interesting city, with dozens of Baroque churches and wide squares and streets. It seems much more laid-back than Porto, and a little cleaner. We got our map, located the shopping district, and had lunch in a little restaurant recommended in the guidebook. We both had a large meal with drinks, and I had soup as well for less than 10€.

Afer lunch, we hit the grocery store for some soda and went home to try out the pasteries we bought in Porto before our siesta. They were good, but not as good as some we had the day before. The siesta was great; we should do that in the States.

Around 4 we decided to do some sightseeing in earnest so we walked through the main pedestrian mall, on outside of town to the ruins of an ancient Roman bath that have been found outside of the town. We walked around the exhibit for a while, then Kathy decided to excavate on her own and found a couple of old Roman potsherds for her collection. Afterwards we moseyed back through town a different way to the central square (very European, except for the McDonalds right in front of the Cathedral, which seems really wrong!). We got two Cafe con Leche and a large bowl of fruit and sherbet, and sat in front of the fountain to watch the people go by. (Kathy was bummed because the fountain shut off just as we sat down.)

It's really been an enjoyable time. It seems like every place we go, we can't believe that anything could be better, and each time we're proven wrong. Braga really is beautiful. One interesting thing is that in Porto, we saw a few American and English tourists, but in Braga, we haven't seen any other Americans. It really is kind of off the beaten path, I guess. The people we've met, though have really been friendly and helpful. It's been great.