Guimarães Castle

Religious Excursions

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Have you ever been to Guimarães Castle?

In the tenth century the Countess Mumadona Dias, after having become a widow, orders a monastery to be built in her estate of Vimaranes - now Guimarães. The constant attacks by the Moors and Normans leads to the need to build a fortress for guardianship and defense of the monks and the Christian community that lived around them. Thus appears the primitive Castle of Guimarães.
In the 12th century, with the formation of the Portucalense County, Count D. Henrique and D.Teresa came to Guimarães to have great works at the Castle in order to enlarge and strengthen it. Tradition tells us that it would have been inside the castle that the earls had settled there and probably D. Afonso Henriques was born there. Between the XIII and XV centuries several kings will contribute with works of improvement and restoration of the Castle.
Connected to heroic feats of the period of the foundation of nationality as the Battle of S.Mamede in 1128, reason why it is known as Castle of the Foundation or of S. Mamede, it served throughout its history of stage to several real conflicts. Lost that was its defensive function, the Castle enters a process of abandonment and gradual degradation until the XX century, when it is declared National Monument and restoration works are carried out.

What People Are Saying

★★★★★
"We traveled with Andre, to Braga and Guimaraes on a small group day trip. No one in our party of 4 could find fault with the trip, the lunch provided was excellent. Andre’s knowledge and people skills were superb, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this operator/trip to anyone wishing to explore beyond Porto"
★★★★★
"We had an amazing trip to Braga and Guimarães with Helio. Braga is a beautiful city and should not be missed. Helio is very knowledgeable, friendly and attentive.Thank you Helio for the outstanding day!"
★★★★★
"We had a wonderful day trip to Braga and Guimarães. Very personalized. Helio had so much knowledge and was very friendly. So glad we included this tour in our travel plan as it offered unique history, beautiful places, and a lovely lunch with wine!"
★★★★★
"The small group tour was a great way to see Braga and Guimaraes in a single day, and provided a nice overview of the highlights of both places. Our guide, Nuno, was extremely personable and knowledgeable about the sites we were visiting, and was good about keeping us informed of the itinerary throughout the day. The highlight for me was the amazing view from the cathedral in Braga, with seeing the old city of Guimaraes as a close second. Lunch was good and quite filling (We were given a choice of meat or fish--I had the seabass) and the vinho verde was nice to try. I really enjoyed the small group format, as having only 6 people on the tour allowed us to ask lots of questions and get to know our fellow travelers. Definitely recommend."
★★★★★
"As a group of 4 wanting to see as much of Portugal as we could, we decided to book a day trip out of Porto. We were incredibly pleased with this private group tour option. Our guide, Hélio, was very engaging, knowledgeable and adaptive. We loved that we were able to get picked up (and dropped back off) right from our AirBNB. We stopped for coffee, which we all desperately needed (thank you, vacation!) Our guide was a great driver and made us feel very safe. Hélio was a wealth of information and always made sure we understood. We learned so much along the way. He gave us options to slow down if needed, and when faced with the usual lunch spot being closed, he was quick to find an even better option that we all enjoyed; The black pork and green wine were so tasty! Overall, we were more than satisfied with our day tour and wished we had more time to do another before we left."

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