Portugal Trip: Braga

Yep, still Portugal. I'm behind. We don't really even still look like what we look like in these photos from November - hair grown or cut, baby teeth and/or fat lost, etc.  I best get crackin'!  Two posts to go.

Braga was a side trip we took on our last full day in Portugal, just under an hour drive from Porto.

Specifically, we visited a church at the top of a hill overlooking the city. It's called the Bom Jesus do Monte.  Great name.

behind the church

The grounds around the church were fun to explore.

I didn't get any good photos of the inside, but the organist was playing a Coldplay song, which we thought an odd choice. But a few minutes later a wedding party showed up, so he must have been practicing.

front of church

We then made our way down the baroque stairway (which you can see quite well in the first photo of the post). 

Then we continued down the hill, interspersed with more steps and several small huts depicting the various stages of Christ's journey to the cross. Technically you're supposed to make this pilgrimage from the bottom to the top of the hill, so we got the events in reverse order.

And then there's a funicular to take you back up if you've done the lazy version of the pilgrimage, or down if you've worked for it.

Bom Jesus was an enjoyable (and free, save the funicular) outing in northern Portugal.