Guimaraes

September 22, 2025: Guimaraes 

After a wild night at the wedding in Braga, I unfortunately was woken up an older Portuguese man smoking in my hostel dorm smoking at 8:40. I should have been mad, but his vibes were amazing. 

I had the day free before heading north to Spain to start my second Camino de Santiago. Having seen most but not everything in Braga, I decided to do a day trip the UNESCO World Heritage city of Guimaraes. 

To get there, I headed to the bus terminal to catch the bus. Normally it costs €1, but the bus was super crowded with students and I was let on for free. Portuguese school outfits include a black cape and black hat which look straight out of Hogwarts. In fact, JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book while living in Porto so it is actually that the Harry Potter wizard capes were inspired by the Portuguese school uniforms. 

The bus took 25 minutes.  

I then walked to the city’s most important attraction: the Guimaraes Castle. The 10^th century castle was the birthplace of Portugal’s first king, Dom Alfonso I (born in 1111). In 1128, Alfonso would lead his forces to victory here and in the surrounding fields in Battle of Sao Mamede, which resulted the creation of the independent Kingdom of Portugal. Therefore the castle is considered a national symbol for Portuguese. 

The castle is structurally sound and you can walk around the grounds and side structures, but you can’t go inside the actual tower. It’s cool because it’s a real castle with so much history, but there isn’t much to actually explore.  

A few steps away is the Palace of the Dukes. This 15^th century palace served as the residence of the Duke of Braganca, a noble title given by King Alfonso V of Portugal for his uncle Alfonso I of Braganca. The title still exists and its current holder Duarte Pio claims the defunct Portuguese throne, although it carries no official standing. 

By the early 1900’s the palace laid in ruins and the Portuguese government decided to restore it to its former grandeur (or perhaps to an even greater grandeur than ever existed). Since 1950, the palace has operated both as the official residence of the President of Portugal for when he is in the north of the country as well as a museum open to the general public. 

As such, only the second floor was open to touring. The third floor, which must be the official residence is completely off limits. The rooms were furnished with medieval furniture from the period – although the furniture is not from this building. 

Now that I have seen the major attractions, it was time to wander the town itself. Guimaraes is really a stunner with winding alleys and gorgeous buildings and churches. I get why it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

After about an hour of walking around and exploring some churches, it was time for lunch. Based on some online research, I discovered a local restaurant called Taberna Trovador. The restaurant was empty save for two very tall man sitting at a table in the back. I learned that they play for the local basketball team. One guy was from Sao Tome and Principe (a Portuguese-speaking African island nation) and the other guy was from Arizona. I ended up chatting with the guy from Arizona. He said that after college, he wanted an adventure and got a contract for the Portuguese team. It doesn’t pay well, and he expects to get a real job in a year or two, but he is having an amazing time. He mentioned that the game in Portugal is far more collaborative and physical, as many of the players on all the clubs have played together since childhood. The entire team lives together in a house owned by the team. 

So, why was he at the restaurant? Well, the team has a deal with three local restaurants so 1/3 of the players will eat at each restaurant every day for two weeks and then rotate. 

For my meal, I got fried cod balls and tomato rice. Codfish (aka bacalao) is the Portuguese national dish but ironically the fish does not live off the Portuguese coast. Instead, it is imported from Norway, Iceland and North America. The history dates to the Age of Discovery when Portuguese sailors exploring the world learned to preserve fish using salt. Due to its low fat content, codfish is one of the easiest fishes to preserve. So yes, there are other fishes off the coast, but those couldn’t be preserved very well so they could not be transported to the interior of the country. Whereas the imported codfish could. 

Tomato rice is another traditional dish that traces its ancestry to the Portuguese colonial legacy. Tomatoes originate in the Americas and rice from many places but most importantly India (of which parts were Portuguese until 1961). 

After lunch, I visited one more spectacular church before catching the bus back to Braga. 

Final Thoughts:

Guimaraes is the real deal. It is a stunning old city with two monumental sights and plenty of smaller churches to keep you busy for the day. The food options here seemed to be better (or at least more traditional) than in Braga. If I had to pick a day trip from Porto, I would pick this over Braga. I really can’t say enough nice things about this town other than I still have no idea how to pronounce its name.