Meandering in Medieval Guimarães

Of Galicia's seven cities, three of them have airports. That's a lot of airports for just one Autonomous Community with no city over 500,000 residents. On the southern coast is Vigo, which makes sense because it is a major port city with industry. Then there's Santiago de Compostela, perhaps Galicia's biggest airport. Aside from being centrally located, it's also the capital, so that also makes sense. Then on the northern coast is A Coruña, home to the fashion industry of Inditex. Basically each city has their reasons for having an airport of their own.

But one consequence of Galicia's multiple airports is that there is no single hub for international flights. Because of this, to fly internationally (to outside of the EU especially) it is often cheaper and quicker to fly from the Northern Portuguese city of O Porto. Depending on which part of Galicia you're coming from, it can be only two or three hours away. (Factoring in the time zone change to one hour behind, you can ¨get there¨ in as little as one hour!) That's much quicker than driving to Spain's central airport in Madrid, at least five hours away from Galicia. So thanks to the flight from Portugal, this year before my well-overdue trip home we spent a full week in Northern Portugal.

Castle of Guimarães

First stop: a day in Guimarães. Guimarães is a small Medieval Portuguese city. In fact, it's the birthplace of Portugal. Its attractions include the two-for-one Paço dos Duques from the 15th century, and the neighboring Castle of Guimarães. Inside the palace were enormous faded antique carpets, Renaissance paintings, and elaborate wooden furniture. The Castle, while potent from the outside, is empty on the inside. You can go up and keep watch as you walk along the outer wall, but there is nothing else to see. But hey, striding on top of a wall that's over a millennium old is quite enough for me!

Paço dos Duques courtyard

The square where we
had coffee, with its
Medieval monument

The city's Old Town is also its own attraction. No wonder the Historic Center of Guimarães is a UNESCO World Heritage Site! We got there in the morning and took in the Medieval barrio with little competition. But after our coffee in a lovely cobblestone square, the tour groups started appearing. We did plenty of walking (and even jogging) around the Old Town, between having to pay the parking meter every 90 minutes and me leaving my phone in the car but fearing I had lost it. Among the old whitewashed buildings was a convent selling pastries with a line of customers out the door. The bakery was called Divina Gula, divine gluttony. The Portuguese are known for their desserts. And nuns everywhere are too, apparently. So obviously we had to try some.  All almond-based. Not my personal favorite, but of course they weren't bad. 

We couldn't fill up on sweets, though, as lunch was right around the corner! Well, I was convinced that the Portuguese eat lunch way earlier than the Spanish do (here it's usually around 2 or 3 PM). I guess I exaggerated but all the better. That way we beat the rush and didn't have to wait. We ate in an old manor house turned-restaurant, with the huge, shady courtyard used as the terrace. In addition to pastries, Portugal is also known for its many ways of preparing cod. And so the Cod Fest commenced! Not for me, of course. Not a huge fish fan. But someone else may have challenged himself to eat cod everyday. 

After lunch we visited the castle and paço. No waiting at lunchtime. Then we skedaddled south, to spend a few nights camping...