This morning I learned a valuable lesson at the train station. I was on platform 1 at 9:53 and when a train pulled up I started to board but luckily checked with the taciturn train worker before I did. After showing him my ticket and pointing to the train (since I can’t speak Portuguese), he stared me down and said, ‘No. Next train’ with a heavy accent. I was confused because my train was supposed to leave from platform 1 at 9:53 but luckily he was intimidating enough that I meekly watched the train leave. Good thing, because my train pulled in a couple minutes later. Who knows where I would have ended up without that grumpy guy! So word to the wise: Portugal transportation is a little squidgy on details like platforms and times. ✅
I eventually made it to Guimaraes, my next stop in Portugal. And oh my heck, this town is adorable. It has everything a European town should have: a castle, medieval wall, copious churches, and winding cobble stone roads. I was in heaven.
Castles and such
Guimaraes is known as the birthplace of Portugal because a guy named Afonso was from there and he basically united a bunch of different areas under him. If I had any talent as a screenwriter or author I would be all over this, because this story is BEGGING to be made into the next Game of Thrones. Only the outside walls of the castle remain, but it is enough to evoke gory medieval battles.
From the castle walls you can look at my next stop, the Dukes of Braganca Palace. This is a restored palace that was pretty impressive. It made me laugh because the placards for everything said ‘this is a replica of the XXX’ and they had retrofitted an elevator in one of the little doors.
My next stop was to a little store that sells pastries made by nuns. At least that is how the story goes and I really want to believe it. They were tasty, but weird because spaghetti squash was the dominant ingredient. After sugar, obvs.
Wandering the town
I spent the rest of the day meandering through the rabbit warren of streets and plazas. The houses lining the streets were all really well kept and it added the ambience of a fairy tale to the place. I had a rad little room overlooking one of the plazas and could look out at people walking by.
The next morning I had to check off a few places before I left town. I went and climbed on the medieval walls that used to surround the city and then checked out a couple more churches. I’ve noticed that in certain places churches are more of a tourist stop than a religious building, but apparently not here. On a Friday morning, church services were in full effect so I had to switch up my plans.
Overall, I’d give Guimaraes full stars. Old Town wasn’t big and I covered it all in a day, but it was so freaking cute I would definitely come back here.
Portugal overview
This was my second trip to Portugal and the fourth town I’ve visited. I can say the country is 4/4. The history is super interesting and since Portugal was a powerhouse back in the day, there are a lot of really cool buildings and towns. The tile on the streets and on the buildings is really cool. If only they could do something about all those pesky hills…
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