Trip to Guimarães, Sunday (the 6th day)

The sixth day of our trip in Portugal started with waking up and having breakfast in our hosting families. This day we went to the acient city of Guimarães, the place where the kingdom of Portugal was born. For that reason it is called the cradle of Portugal. We had to be in the school by 10 o'clock and I (Riin) fortunately arrived on time. But some people were late and so we set off and headed for Guimarães 18 minutes later. The bus trip lasted for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We arrived in Guimarães at 1 pm. Then we had 1,5 hours of free time to spend in shops.

After that we visited the chapel of S. Miguel. It was built in the 12th century in Romanesque style. It has a symbolic link to the founding of the Portugese nation as tradition states that the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques was baptised there. The floor of the chapel is paved with the tombs attributed to the noble warriors who fought alongside King Afonso at the founding of the nation. The chapel is also classified as a National Monument.
Then we walked from the chapel to a nearby castle which dates back to the 10th century AD. Throughout its history the castle served as the backdrop for dynastic conflicts, none more heroic than the exploits leading to the foundation of the kingdom at the Battle of S. Mamede. It is also the place where King Afonso was probably born.

After that we went to the central part of the city. There we were also allowed to look around by ourselves. But before that we walked along an acient street which was lined with old houses, many of these had coats of arms of old families on their facade.

This evening we didn't have dinner in school. We went to homes to dine with our hosting families. It had been again a long day and we went to sleep, our heads filled with impressions of the seen places and things.