The Iberian Wandering - Day 13: Northern Portugal

Friday, May 2

The weather was forecast to be rainy the next couple of days.  We left Santiago de Compostela under rainy skies and made our way south into Portugal since we were close.  The weather started clearing once we crossed into Portugal.

Easy driving, no border crossing of course and we made it to the city of Guimarães with no real issues.  Since we were early, we could not check in yet period but we were able to dump the car and walk into the historic city center.

Guimarães is known as the birthplace of Portugal because it was in Guimarães that Portugal's first King, Afonso Henriques was born, and also because the Battle of São Mamede – which is considered the seminal event for the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal.  More here: LINK

We checked out the Ducal Palace first, the crowds were thick and annoying as usual.

I deleted people from the rest of the photos...would that it be that easy in real life.

Nearby, and a little further uphill, was the small fortress and tower.  

No access to the tower

As you can see, we had a nice sunny day for this touring.

Lunch was at a nice small restaurant we stumbled into.

After lunch, a short walk and a visit to a church:

No info signs...so no idea

Seen as we meandered:

The sign read: 500 years of theater.

It was now close to 2 p.m. so we walked back to the hotel.  About 14,000 steps today, not too bad of a death march.

We rested the rest of the afternoon.  The rains had returned so no motivation to walk about. 

Dinner was at 8 p.m. and while the food was good, the single waitress was overwhelmed with all the customers so one had to be patient.  Help finally showed up at 9 p.m.

So, a good driving day.  Today is a rest and do nothing day for us.  It's Mother's Day weekend here so we're avoiding the inevitable crowds.