We got up not horribly early, grabbed breakfast, and headed out the door for Braga and the area around there. First up on our list was the Bom de Jesus, which featured this super cool staircase… Driving there wasn’t too bad, and we found the place pretty easily. Parking cost a Euro, so that wasn’t too bad either. 

We wandered around for a while – the staircase was amazing, and the basilica at the top was beautiful – it’s just too bad that it was foggy as hell and we couldn’t see all of it at once. Being up in the clouds was cool, but it might’ve been cooler if we could see it all at once. Regardless, it wasn’t too disappointing, and really neat to see. We got back in the car and continued on to Braga. 

Parking in Braga was something else. We easily found a spot on the street, but then we couldn’t download and use the parking app because it required sending a text to a phone number and we have an eSIM. Yay for two factor authentication. Arg. We finally moved to a parking garage where they had an actual machine for payment and were on our way. 

Braga was a cool old city, full of cobbled streets and narrow passages. We found some lunch (grilled chicken for me, cod for Matt) at a place called Dona Sé. And another glass of wine, of course. 

After lunch, we wandered as we do, finding some more churches and a really cool garden. The tile on the buildings was really cool, too. All the patterns were really interesting to see. Initially, we were going to try to go to Guimarães, also, but we realized we should probably just hang out a bit longer and hit that town another day. We stopped for another drink, and then headed back to Porto. 

A rush hour drive later, we made it back. We were pretty tired, so we opted to grab sandwiches at the grocery store and just eat in our room. We watched the Vuelta stage from earlier, and fell asleep pretty early. 

We had decided to go to the one national park in Portugal today (Peneda-Gerês National Park), so we made a point of getting up relatively early and hitting the grocery for pastries for breakfast. I had a chocolate croissant – YUM! We headed out from there and made our way out to the national park. 

Our first stop was the Miradouro de Fafião. We went down a random road and parked in a little pull off that GoogleMaps directed us to. We walked up the road a tiny bit, and we saw signs for the actual lookout. When we got up to it, there was this metal bridge to a random rock with a viewing platform… I’m sure the bridge was fine, but it sure felt rickety when I walked across it! The view was cool, of a big reservoir down the valley and the mountains all around. The bridge and the rock it connected to was cooler. 

We headed back to the car and were off to the next stop, the Cascata de Pincães. We parked where the signs said we could – not past the signs that said no parking where Google told us to park – and started walking. The trailhead was through a little town, and thank goodness for AllTrails, which pointed us in the right direction. 

The hike was pretty easy, and the waterfall at the end was beautiful. There was a nice calm pool of water, and you could climb all over the rocks and explore. We hung out for a bit, and then went back to the car. 

We had decided to hit Guimarães on our way back, since we didn’t go the day we went to Braga, and we were  just in  time to get there for lunch. We found a parking garage when we drove in and went in search of food. 

We had lunch in one of the squares, and then some espresso. I tell ya, the food here is amazing. I had a steak sandwich, again cooked so well you could bite easily through the meat… as well as a glass of wine with lunch. 

After eating, we wandered around the old town, walking through narrow streets and all the hills. There were clotheslines, there were churches… Another beautiful old European town. 

We stopped for ice cream (okay, gelato), we stopped for another drink… 

Then we headed back to Porto. We parked the car at the hotel and decided to go to the grocery store for sandwiches again. We found some (at the same little store we found them at before, we’d tried to go to the bigger store and they didn’t have premade sandwiches), and I decided to buy the cheapest bottle of wine I could find to see how bad (or good!) it was. 

We had dinner on our balcony as the sun set over the river. We drank the wine. Really, for 1.89 Euros, it was damned good! I’d heard such things were possible, but I didn’t believe it til I tried it for myself.  Good times. 

Then bed. 

Here’s the video: