Portugal - North

A striking view of the walled citadel of Bragança.

Bragança

Bragança is the capital of the province of Trás-os-Montes in north-eastern Portugal. Unexploited by tourism, this remote, mountainous region offers beautiful scenery, historic towns, natural landscapes and rich local cuisine. Bragança lies on the edge of the Montesinho Natural Park – one of the wildest forested areas in Europe with a great diversity of fauna and flora.

Locals enjoy a strong traditional way of life, especially in small towns such as Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro, Torre de Moncorvo and Freixo de Espada à Cinta. Daily life has not changed for hundreds of years and these isolated stone villages retain a rustic beauty of their own. The region is especially beautiful in spring, when a white mantle of almond blossom covers the valleys. Nearby Mirandela is known for its cured meats and sausages, and you can find many delicious local specialties throughout the region.

The carnival celebrations in Trás-os-Montes are a vibrant and richly-honoured tradition. The festivities last for days preceding Ash Wednesday and feature colourful costumes, lively parades and traditional music, attracting happy revellers from all over the world.

Santuário do Bom Jesus do Monte, Braga. A grand Baroque stairway leads up to the 18th century neoclassical church.

Braga

Braga

Braga is situated in the heart of the fertile Minho province in north-western Portugal, surrounded by a gently rolling landscape of mountains and forests. One of Portugal's main religious centres, the city is renowned for its baroque churches, splendid 18th century houses and beautiful parks and gardens. The old city is solemn and antique, although industry and commerce have brought a modern way of life, complemented by local universities, contemporary restaurants and lively bars. On Thursday mornings, Braga hosts the largest market in the region, with stalls selling everything from fresh produce to traditional ceramics.

The city’s history is evident in its numerous churches and monuments, the principal landmarks including the striking Sé Cathedral and the 17th-century church of Santa Cruz. On a hill about 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) south-east stands the sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte, which is an important pilgrimage site. Beyond it is Mount Sameiro, where a colossal statue of the Virgin Mary overlooks the city. A short drive from Braga, the Citânia de Briteiros is an impressive archaeological site from the Iron Age.

Beautiful, wild beaches can be found along the coast in Esposende, Ofir and Apúlia. The whole district is famous for its festivals and local gastronomy, boasting traditional recipes include codfish (cooked in hundreds of different ways) and oven-roasted duck with rice.

Santa Luzia Basilica, Viana do Castelo. This impressive basilica was inspired by Romanesque, Byzantine and Gothic architecture.

Viana do Castelo is located at the mouth of the Lima river.

Viana do Castelo

Situated at the mouth of the Lima river, between the ocean and the mountains, the charming city of Viana do Castelo is steeped in tradition. Historically, the city was a crucial point of departure during the Age of Discovery, when many Portuguese explorers embarked to discover the unknown world.

Today, Viana do Castelo is a lively fishing port, renowned for its compelling architecture, featuring Manueline and Renaissance influences as well as innovative contemporary design. Below the hills of Santa Luzia, the narrow, winding streets are lined with beautiful palaces and houses constructed over the centuries. Visitors will also enjoy the beautiful Cabedelo beach across the Lima estuary.

Throughout the Minho province, many religious festivals and popular fairs are held throughout the year. Festivities in Viana do Castelo culminate in the middle of August with the celebration of the Romaria de Nossa Senhora d’Agonia, which dates back to the 18th century. For three days, the streets are filled with people enjoying the parade of floats, towering puppets and colourful local costumes, as well as traditional music and food. 

The nearby town of Ponte de Lima boasts a fine Roman bridge, a lively market and neighbourhoods of impressive rural mansions and old cottages. Along the Minho river, which separates Spain from Portugal, interesting border towns include Caminha, Valença, Monção and Melgaço. Other places to visit include the quaint towns of Paredes de Coura, Arcos de Valdevez and Ponte da Barca. Every two years, Vila Nova de Cerveira hosts a contemporary arts festival.

The impressive Guimarães castle is one of the city’s most famous landmarks.

This lovely fountain in Largo do Toural is located in the centre of Guimarães.

Guimarães

Situated in the district of Braga, the quaint city of Guimarães is one of Portugal’s most important historical destinations. Portugal’s first king, Afonso Henriques, chose this former Roman city to be the administrative capital of the Portuguese kingdom after his victory at the Battle of São Mamede in 1128. Known as the birthplace of the nation, Guimarães is a fascinating place to visit, with its proud castle and well-preserved medieval quarter. The city was declared an UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.
This charming old town is a maze of narrow winding streets, flanked by old houses decorated with statues which lead to the impressive main square, Largo da Oliveira and the old Ducal Palace. For a true taste of the medieval atmosphere, visit Guimarães during the first weekend of August for the annual Festas Gualterianas (held since 1452), which features a medieval-style handicraft market, arts fair and lively costume parade.
Guimarães has been designated the European Capital of Culture for 2012 and will showcase a wide selection of concerts, events and exhibitions to celebrate this achievement.

Paço dos Duques de Bragança, Barcelos. The palace of the Dukes of Bragança is now an open-air archaeological museum.

The Cávado river runs through the charming medieval town of Barcelos.

Barcelos

Situated north of Porto, the city of Barcelos is known for its handmade ceramics, especially the Galo de Barcelos – a colourful cockerel which is acknowledged as an unofficial national icon and often used as a symbol of Portugal. The medieval walled town is situated on a hill above the Cavado river, its charming streets lined with baroque houses.
Every Thursday, the local market in Campo da República attracts tourists and visitors from all over the region. Feira de Barcelos is a decidedly rural affair, with stalls offering seasonal fruit and vegetables, homemade cheeses and beautiful ceramics, as well as all kinds of handicrafts featuring the trademark Barcelos cockerel.
Other local attractions include the Nossa Senhora do Terço church, the Centro do Artesanato de Barcelos (handicrafts centre) and the ruins of the 15th century Paço dos Duques de Bragança (Palace of the Dukes of Bragança), which have been transformed into an open-air archaeological museum. This site also features a cross which describes the story of Galo de Barcelos.

Casa de Mateus is depicted on the labels of the famous Mateus rosé wine.

Cruises along the Douro river are a unique way to see this beautiful region.

Ingeniously terraced vineyards in the Douro river valley.

Vila Real

Situated at the foothills of the majestic slopes of Serra do Marão, Vila Real is a small, lively city in north-eastern Portugal. Founded by King Dinis in 1289, Vila Real played an important role in the history of Portugal. It was the birthplace of Diogo Cão, the first explorer to reach the Congo river, and António da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca (known as the Count of Amarante), who was an influential member of the Portuguese military and lead numerous uprisings against the Liberal constitution. Many aristocrats built grand palaces here during the 16th and 17th centuries, befitting the city’s literal name, ‘royal villa’.
Vila Real is an ideal base for exploring the Douro river valley and following the famous Port Wine Route. Port wine begins its life in wine estates south of the city, planted in terraced vineyards along steep riverbanks. Early autumn is the best time to visit as many farms welcome visitors and you can watch the workers picking grapes, often singing while they work. For centuries, agriculture has been an important means of livelihood in this region.
There are many charming towns and villages near Vila Real, including Peso da Régua and Sabrosa, which boasts 15th century houses and vineyards set above the Pinhão river. Sample excellent wines throughout the region, including those from Mesão Frio and Murça, a town also known for its local honey, goat’s cheese and sausages. The historic city of Chaves is famous for its hot springs and the Roman bridge, which was built around AD 100. Also worth visiting are the nearby towns of Bisalhães, renowned for its unusual black pottery and Boticas, where you can taste the famous vinho dos mortos (wine of the dead), which is buried in deep cellars to mature.

UNESCO Heritage Portugal

Historic Centre of  Angra do Heroísmo

The Centro Histórico de Angra do Heroísmo is an historic centre located in the city of Angra do Heroísmo, the island of Terceira in the Azores Islands. It is a port with large importance between the 15th and the 19th centuries. The fortifications of São Sebastião and São João Baptista of the 16th century are the only examples of military architecture. It was destroyed by an earthquake that took place on the January 1, 1980, the city was later rebuilt. It was listed in 1984.

Jerónimos Monastery

The Hieronymites Monastery is located near the shore of the parish of Belém, in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. The monastery is one of the most prominent monuments of the Manueline-style architecture (Portuguese late-Gothic) in Lisbon, classified in 1983 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém.

Belém Tower

Belém Tower or the Tower of St Vincent is a fortified tower located in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém in the municipality of Lisbon, Portugal. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site (along with the nearby Jerónimos Monastery) because of the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries of the era of the Age of Discoveries. The tower was commissioned by King John II to be part of a defense system at the mouth of the Tagus River and a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

The tower was built in the early 16th century and is a prominent example of the Portuguese Manueline style, but it also incorporates hints of other architectural styles. The structure was built from lioz limestone and is composed of a bastion and the 30 meter (100 foot), four story tower. It has incorrectly been stated that the tower was built in the middle of the Tagus and now sits near the shore because the river was redirected after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In fact, the tower was built on a small island in the Tagus River near the Lisbon shore.

Batalha Monastery

Mosteiro Santa Maria da Vitória, more commonly known as the Batalha Monastery, is a Dominican convent in Batalha, in the District of Leiria, Portugal. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the Manueline style.

Convent of Christ (Tomar)

The Convent of the Order of Christ is a religious building and Roman Catholic building in Tomar, Portugal, originally a Templar stronghold built in the 12th century. After the Order of the Knights Templar was dissolved in the 14th century, the Portuguese branch of the order was turned into the Knights of the Order of Christ, which supported Portugal's maritime discoveries of the 15th century.

Historic Centre of Évora

Alcobaça Monastery

The Alcobaça Monastery  is a Mediaeval Roman Catholic Monastery located in the town of Alcobaça, in central Portugal. It was founded by the first Portuguese King, Afonso Henriques, in 1153, and maintained a close association with the Kings of Portugal throughout its history. The church and monastery were the first Gothic buildings in Portugal, and, together with the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, it was one of the most important of the mediaeval monasteries in Portugal. Due to its artistic and historical importance, it was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1989.

Cultural Landscape of Sintra

Historic Centre of Oporto

The historic center of Porto is the oldest area of Porto, Portugal, classified as World Cultural Heritage since 1996. Corresponds to the urban fabric marked by the medieval origins of the city and includes territories in the parishes of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Victory and Miragaia. Despite all the trends and changes over time that occurred in the historic center of Porto, still observing the urban ensemble which is based in the old medieval part provides an image of consistency and homogeneity. Suggests immutability and permanence in time, thus providing a unique example of an urban landscape endowed with identity, strong character and aesthetic quality.

Prehistoric Rock-Art Site of the Côa Valley

The Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites of the Côa Valley are open-air Paleolithic archaeological sites located in a region of northeastern Portugal, along the Portuguese-Spanish border. In the late 1980s, the engravings were discovered in Vila Nova de Foz Côa. The site in situated in the valley of the Côa River, and comprises thousands of engraved drawings of horses, bovines and other animal, human and abstract figures, dated from 22,000 to 10,000 years BCE. Since 1995 a team of archaeologists have been studying and cataloging this pre-historical complex and a park was created to receive visitors.

Laurisilva

Laurisilva or laurissilva is a subtropical forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterised by evergreen, glossy-leaved tree species that look alike with leaves of lauroid type. The members of the Laurel family (Lauraceae) could be prominent, or in association. In Spanish, the word "laurisilva" is used for every laurel forest: Laurisilva misionera, laurisilva valdiviana, Macaronesian Laurisilva etc, even in African an Asian countries of Iberian background.

Many botanical species have similar foliage to the Lauraceae due to convergent evolution. Plants of the laurel forests must adapt to high rainfall and humidity. The trees adapted by developing leaves that repel water. Laurophyll or lauroide leaves are characterized by a generous layer of wax, making them glossy in appearance, and narrow, pointed oval in shape with an apical mucro, or 'drip tip', which permit the leaves to shed water despite the humidity, allowing perspiration and respiration from plant.

Historic Centre of Guimarães

The historic city of Guimarães is associated with the emergence of the Portuguese national identity in the twelfth century. It is an exceptionally well preserved example of the evolution of a medieval town to a modern city with a rich typology edificativa to show the development of Portuguese architecture from the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries with continued use of techniques and traditional building materials.

 Alto Douro wine region

The wine region of Alto Douro and Alto Douro Wine Region is an area of northeastern Portugal with more than 26,000 hectares, classified by UNESCO on December 14, 2001, as World Heritage in the category of cultural landscape and surrounded by mountains give individuals and climatic characteristics mesological. This region, which is bathed by the Douro River and forms part of a Douro wine region, producing wine for over 2000 years, including the world famous Port wine.

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

The Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The vineyard is divided into plots (currais) protected by walls (paredes, murinhos). The walls are built with basalt blocks that have been weathered and broken up and stacked without mortar. Viticulture dates back to the 15th century.