Braga Things To Do

This square is named Largo do Paço, you can admire a beautiful fountain and the buildings surrounded. Those buildings are actually property of the University of Minho and the beautiful fountain has some recent histories when students push down into the fountain the new students at the beginning of the school year, it is part old a tradition called “praxe”.

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	Sé de Braga Tip Rating:

Updated By ncfg

on October 26, 2004

Braga's Sé cathedral is dated back 12th century, making it the oldest in Portugal.
Its amazing inside you should not miss. The cathedral has also a Sacred Art Museum, which contains a big collection of ecclesiastical treasures, rare azulejo glazed tiles and statues.

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	Igreja de St. Cruz Tip Rating:

Updated By ncfg

on October 1, 2004

The Sta Cruz Church is a 17th century Rococo work.
This Church has a funny story;
It’s said that if you look at its façade and you find the two roosters/chickens, you will marry with someone from the town of Braga.
So what are you waiting for, enlarge the pic search for them.

If you don’t find them I will help you out. Good luck!

PS: on the pic you will find just one because the other is not on the pic.

Address: Largo de S. Geraldo

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	The Hospital and the Igreja of S. Marcos Tip Rating:

Updated By ncfg

on October 1, 2004

On this pic you can see the hospital and the Church of S. Marcos, the church was founded in the 15th century and restored in 18th century. The Braga architect Carlos Amarante (the author of the Bom Jesus Sanctuary, among others) was the responsible of its construction.

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	Capela de Nossa Senhora da Torre Tip Rating:

Updated By ncfg

on October 29, 2004

The Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Torre (Our Lady of the Tower Chapel) has a very interesting architecture.
I don't know anything about it but you can see on my photo that it is beautiful.
I don't know another town with so many different churches. In the same square where the Chapel is placed i found two more churches.

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	Bom Jesus - inside church Tip Rating:

Updated By micas_pt

on November 6, 2003

A visit inside the church is mandatory. It is so beautiful inside. The altarpiece has an amazing color, that stands out from the rest of the church. The ceiling has some nice paintings and there is an outstanding ancient pipe organ - don't forget to look up as you enter the church, you will see it in the balcony. I wish it was playing when i visited church, but i had no such luck. Anyway, there are just a few people left who can play this type of organ.

This church is baroque style and was built in late 18th century.

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	Bom Jesus - senses and virtues Tip Rating:

Updated By micas_pt

on November 6, 2003

After you climb first half of the stairs there is a belvedere with beautiful view overlooking Braga as well as some benches where you can rest for a while and enjoy the view and feel the quietness of the place (if you visit on an autumn Monday like i did). Autumn colors are fabulous, ... still a lot of green but mixed with some shades of orange and red, ... beautiful!!

After recovering, it's time to go up again. Next stage is different - it shows lots of stone statues and fountains that represent the 5 Senses mixed with some mythological and bible figures. Then you will find the 3 Virtues place, also with statues and fountains. And finally you reach church. Again the view is wonderful and there are some wooden benches to sit.

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	Bom Jesus - funicular Tip Rating:

By micas_pt

on November 6, 2003

For all those who can't climb the stairs, or are just lazy, there is a funicular that goes up and down along the stairs.

This funicular is moved by water and was built in 1882. This is an important piece for portuguese transportation history.

The slope is very accentuated - about 31% inclination. They say the funicular takes about 3 minutes to go up (or down) - about 285 metre journey. There are 2 units - one each way and they always move at the same time. As one begins journey down, the other starts coming up.

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	Bom Jesus - stairs and chapels Tip Rating:

By micas_pt

on November 6, 2003

I tried to count how many steps there were until i reached top of stairs, but i got lost somewhere around 500, ... times 2 - up and down, more than a 1.000 steps ... so i made a lot of exercise that day!! :-) But don't worry, there are some benches along the way where you can rest and enjoy the view.

First half of the stairs (going up) has some chapels along the way. Inside these chapels are images depicting Jesus' life. They are closed and you must look inside through some iron windows. They are not well iluminated so you can hardly see, ... but i had a great surprise when i tryed to shoot a photo - with the flash light i culd see beautiful and colourful figures, and in some of them painted walls.

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	Tourism Office Tip Rating:

Updated By micas_pt

on November 9, 2003

If you are visiting Braga you should start by the Tourism Office, right on the center of city, amongst all those beautiful buildings and churches you are about to visit.

There you can get some useful information on what to visit and opening hours. I was given two maps - one of them shows the Barroque Route and the other shows Roman Route, 2 major guidelines for visiting Braga. Sometimes their paths cross, but you should face them as separate "things".

I only had the opportunity to see some of the spots mentioned on the Barroque one. Barroque has always been one of my favourite styles, both in music and architecture, so it wasn't a hard decision to take. :-)