A visit to Guimarães A visit to Guimarães is worthwhile due to its historical centre, the rickety houses and medieval buildings, recognised in 2001 as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, due to the way its people welcome visitors to this unique city. Guimarães is a city filled with creative energy, but it also a living historical archive. “This is where Portugal was born”

When you visit Guimarães, you will know where Portugal was born as an independent country, in 1143, and where the first king, D. Afonso Henriques, lived. It was in the medieval castle that Afonso Henriques was born and, within its high towers and walls, he defeated his mother's armies in 1128. Named heir to the Portucalense County by the warriors of Minho, this Prince who, according to the chronicles, was very handsome, became the first king of Portugal. The Castle Hill – as well as the Church of Our Lady of Oliveira, and Padrão do Salado – is therefore a place which must be visited.

The visit to the main historical points in the city can be seen on foot. A suggested starting point for your tour is the square of Our Lady of Oliveira, in the heart of the city, where the impressive Collegiate Church of Guimarães stands and from where Pedro Hispano who, with the name of João XXI, would be the only Portuguese Pope of in the History of the Church, left for Rome, and the beautiful cloister located at the Alberto Sampaio Museum.

In the historical centre, notice the authentic character of the graceful iron balconies, the granite balconies and porches, the profiles of the embattled towers of manor houses, the arches which connect the narrow streets, the flagstones of the floor smoothed over throughout the centuries, the freshness of the cloisters.

It looks like a medieval scenario, doesnt it? Be sure to visit the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança, a majestic 15th century manor house, which is classified as a National Monument, the Convent of Saint António dos Capuchos, built in the middle of the Holy Hill in the 17th century, and the Vila Flor Palace, an 18th century building which today is part of the Cultural Centre with the same name.

In Largo do Toural, one of the most central and important squares of the city, breathe in the unique atmosphere that exists in Guimarães.

For another view of the city, take the cable car up Monte da Penha, where one of the most beautiful landscapes of northern Portugal awaits you.

For lunch or dinner, you can choose from the many local restaurants or the new custom cuisine projects born in the city. All use the traditional cuisine, convincing even the most discerning of taste buds. Taste the “Naco à Conquistador” beef rump served with the best products from the region or the traditional “rojões à minhota” and finish the meal with the convent sweets, pies and toucinho-do-céu. To drink, ask for a good local vinho verde.

Historic Centre of Guimarães - World Heritage (2001)

Guimarães is a city with a glorious past history, whose history is linked to the founding of the Portuguese national identity and the Portuguese language in the century XII. The Historic Centre of Guimarães is a single trace of a particular type of city design, which had its own evolution, due to the morphology of its medieval urban fabric, that conforms a series of large squares formal value and environmental quality as well as, a particular type of construction, diverse typologically, but with a great formal unity as a whole, fully built with traditional building techniques.

Guimarães, an exceptionally well-preserved city, reflects the evolution of some private buildings from medieval times to the present, focusing particularly between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The UNESCO Committee inscribed the Historic Centre of Guimarães on the World Heritage List of Goods at December 2001, and this is the most reproductive and lasting investment in the city.

European Capital of Culture Guimarães was the city designated for the European Capital of Culture of 2012. The Guimarães European Capital of Culture 2012 Foundation prepared more than 500 cultural events in their programme and 200 training sessions, leading to high-profile organisation dynamics involving 500 volunteers, 100 ambassadors, as well as multiple partnerships with 24 cities.

http://www.uminho.pt/en/live/guimaraes-guide http://www.guimaraesturismo.com