Friday 2nd May 2025
We have travelled further north today, mostly on motorways, to the small and ancient town of Guimarães which is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. They have a castle (as you might expect), a basilica and a Duke’s Palace.
We first visited the basilica and were able to climb to the first floor gallery, where we were able to look down on the nave and also out over the city square.
Our original idea on arrival, was to follow Jeeves, Michelle and Layla on the cable-car to visit the top of a nearby hill and look at the strange boulders there. Just as we arrived at the lower station, there was a thunderstorm and the heavens opened.
They then stopped the cable car from running, so we could not follow on. I do not think they re-opened it, so I don’t know how our friends returned back to ground level. I hope they did not have a long walk down in the rain. We decided to explore the town:
There are a number of tableau in the city centre, which depict scenes from the passion of Christ, much like the “Stations of the Cross”.
It is quite a picturesque city and we enjoyed looking around, despite the rain:
Although the castle is (of course) on the top of a hill, it is not a strenuous climb:
The castle was built in the 10th century, and boy was it built to last, with huge stone blocks and very high and thick walls.
The Ducal Palace of the Braganza is an impressive medieval building, built just below the castle.
There has been a considerable amount of restoration work undertaken. We decided to look around inside and our tour took us around much of the parts that has been restored.
That is it for today. See u Later, TTFN.
"See-u-Later" 