Exploring Northern Portugal
Part One — Batalha to Braga
I love our home in Armação de Pêra… until August arrives. That’s when our area goes through a transformation from a lovely coastal fishing village into a tourist hub. It reminds us of things we can take for granted. We don’t usually have traffic, crowds, or many impatient people to deal with, but in July and August, that changes. I look out my kitchen window and see the people wheeling suitcases by and it reminds me they are only visiting. We, on the other hand, get to live here every day.
We can also get out of town and leave the temporary madness, which is exactly what we chose to do.
We decided to do a road trip to the northern part of Portugal, but we didn’t want to go to Porto during peak tourist season. We were also avoiding the Alentejo region in the center of the country as it can be ridiculously hot in August. Once we did our research, we chose Braga as our hub. The temperatures were usually moderate, there would be fewer tourists, and it was surrounded by several interesting destinations to explore within an hour of the city.
We both have about a three-hour-per-day tolerance on road trips, and Braga exceeds that. We decided to choose midway overnight stops on the way up and back, and that was challenging. There are so many good options! Since we’ve been to Lisbon and some of its surrounding cities before, we wanted to explore a new place. Our other goal was to see our friends, Julie and Gary, fellow native Texans who moved to Portugal. We decided on Batalha as it looked easy to navigate, had an inviting hotel next to a big attraction, and would be easy for us to connect with our friends.
We have an excellent highway system in Portugal. It makes road trips simple, especially if you have a Via Verde transponder for tolls and use Google Maps. We are also blessed with a great car that we bought earlier this year, a Renault Captur hybrid. This one has adaptive cruise control, and that makes any road trip easier. Since it is a hybrid, it uses less fuel and allows us to travel more economically.
One of our reasons for choosing the road trip option was limiting expenses. Summer airfare is not cheap. We were able to drive for approximately 100 € in gas and 112 € in tolls. We stayed in 3- or 4-star hotels and the average for a room with breakfast for both of us was just under 140 € due to stays during peak season. Food and beverages are very reasonable in Portugal, and we tend to eat one small meal and one large meal out a day, so food comes in under 50 € daily.
To help us pass the time, we chose an audiobook to listen to on the drive. Being involved in a story makes us both feel like time in the car is passing quickly. In case you’re looking for a recommended listen, Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime was both entertaining and thought provoking. He narrates the story himself. These are not show business stories, but instead stories about his childhood in South Africa and his family.
First stop: Batalha
Batalha, when translated to English, means “battle”, and this city commemorates a memorable one. In 1385, the Portuguese defeated the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota and the Monastery of the Dominicans of Batalha was built to commemorate the victory. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Center today.
This church was finished in 1416 and the size, the detail, and the architecture are awe inspiring. King Joao I, who founded the Monastery to fulfill his vow to the Virgin Mary, is entombed in the Monastery along with his wife, Queen Filipa de Lencastre. Their tomb is in a beautiful section called the Founder’s Chapel that was completed in the 15th century.
Our hotel, Hotel Lis Batalha, was next door to the Monastery. The kind people at the front desk upgraded us to one of the rooms overlooking the Monastery, so we had the perfect view. It is centrally located in the center of town, but it was quiet at night and easy to rest. We enjoyed both dinner and breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant.
On to Braga
After one night in Batalha, we were off to Braga the next morning.
Braga is the oldest city in Portugal and was founded by the Romans in the year 16 BC. After invasions damaged the city over time, it was rebuilt in the 11th century and became an important religious center. In the 12th century, it became the country’s religious capital as it became the seat of Portugal’s archbishops.
Braga was larger than we expected and was easy to navigate on foot. We spent the first day exploring the city center near our hotel and Igreja de Santa Cruz, one of the many churches within the city.
We stayed at the Vila Gale Collection Braga, and it was a good choice. It has its own prior history as a hospital and is centrally located to everything. The breakfast was outstanding, and our room was both quiet and comfortable. Parking was free, but tricky as the lot can fill up and be difficult to navigate.
On the second day in Braga, we opted to take Bolt to Bom Jesus do Monte, the famous sanctuary built on a mountain, and another UNESCO World Heritage site. Taking Bolt was initially a convenience so that we didn’t have to risk losing our parking, but it ended up being a great decision since we were dropped at the top of the monument. Bom Jesus is at the summit after climbing almost 600 steps and there are side chapels built into the staircase. We descended using the stairs, so we were able to see all of these. If you have any mobility issues at all, we recommend this approach. There is also a funicular that you can ride one or both ways.
We were not allowed to take any photos of the interior of the church, but the views from the top were stunning. We did not do a guided tour, but that is something I would explore if I returned.
On our last day in Braga, we visited the Se de Braga, the Cathedral that was the seat of the Catholic church in Portugal for centuries.
We went to Viana do Castelo and Guimaraes for the other part of our trip, and I will share about that in a different post. Before I leave this post about Braga, we’re including details about a few restaurants we enjoyed.
Dona Julia was near the Braga city gate, and we had a delicious lunch there.
Dona Petisca was recommended as a dinner location by some city residents who are new friends. It is on a square with a view of the Se de Braga Cathedral. We met them there and we’d gladly return on future visits.
Our other choice was definitely not traditional, but when we saw there was a Texas barbecue restaurant nearby, we had to check it out. When people ask us what we miss about the United States, Mexican food and barbecue are on the top of the food list. We tried Mimo’s Smokehouse and it was an excellent Portuguese option for a barbecue fix. It isn’t big on atmosphere since it is in the basement of a small shopping center, but if you have a craving, that doesn’t matter. Those new friends we met told us they had been there and where to find it, or we might have given up.
Those new friends we mention are one of the gifts we didn’t expect when we started our inquiry into moving to Portugal a couple of years ago. In a Facebook group someone mentioned that there were so many DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) people looking at Portugal that they had formed a WhatsApp group. I asked to join, and we met a great group of people. We all came from the Dallas/Fort Worth area initially and we had one common interest — moving to Portugal. We’ve settled all over the country. I mentioned Julie and Gary, whom we connected with in Batalha, and they are the only couple we had a chance to meet in Texas before we arrived in Portugal. Since this was also during COVID lockdowns, everyone else was a face on a screen as we did Zoom calls. There were two couples in the group who moved to Braga, so we told them we were headed that way and arranged to meet for dinner. It was so much fun to meet them in person, learn about their city and their experiences. They learned more about the Algarve from us, and they have new friends to visit in the area when they head to our part of the country. We also try to get together with our new friends regularly who moved about 45 minutes away. We didn’t realize we’d have the opportunity to have some great Texan contacts sprinkled throughout the country and we look forward to meeting more of them as we travel.
