Falling in Love with Guimaraes

Falling in love with Guimaraes was something unexpected. But that’s the thing about love. It happens when you aren’t looking for it.

As soon as I arrived in this Portuguese town, I knew I would enjoy it. And no, not just because I had been stuck on a bus for a few hours. My fellow bloggers must have agreed, as they’ve already posted about it. I’m the slacker who can’t multitask.

On the whirlwind tour of northern Portugal, we spent the most time in Guimaraes. And even that afternoon, night and morning wasn’t nearly enough. I could have stayed there for another three days.

After dropping off our bags at the pousada, the group wandered the cobblestone streets of the city looking in shops, buying souvenirs and soaking up the charm. The buildings were lined with twinkly lights.

We had a tasty dinner at Restaurante Historico, sipping vinho verde and passing around the family style dishes, including a casserole-style baked cod. It was nice to engage in conversation with my fellow bloggers as it was my first chance to interact with many of them.

The next morning, we took a walking tour to see the World Heritage listed city center. Our first stop was a 10th century castle, followed by a former monastery and altars placed throughout the city.

This lovely city shares the title of 2012 European Cultural Capital with Maribor, Slovenia.

You’ll see these hearts everywhere, some homemade, as the icon of the Cultural Capital. I saw them as tiles, jewelry and even spray painted onto a building back in Porto.

Jewelry even bore the symbol. Now I wish I had bought one of the necklaces.

If You Go

• Getting to Guimaraes: It takes around 5 hours by train from Lisbon. See the Portuguese Rail website for details.
• Sleeping in Guimaraes: While I spent my night in a monastery, there are plenty of budget options in town. Hostel Prime Guimaraes, My Hostel Guimaraes and ™ Hostel 1 are a few of the hostels on Hostelworld.

My time in Guimaraes was arranged as a part of the Travel Bloggers Unite blog trips but all opinions are my own.