Description Guimarães

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Considered one of the most important historic cities in the country, its historic center being considered a World Heritage Site, Guimarães has definitely become one of the largest tourist centers in the region. Its streets and monuments breathe history and delight those who visit it.

Portugal's birthplace, with a castle and medieval walls, is home to the beautifully preserved historic center. In the cloisters of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira the Alberto Sampaio Museum is located, in the cloister of the Convento de São Domingos the Martins Sarmento Museum is located and in the former Dominican Convent the Museum of Sacred Art is located. As a great highlight we have the medieval palace of the Dukes of Bragança (15th century), the Church of São Miguel (Romanesque), the Church of Santos Passos (Baroque) and the Monastery of Santa Marinha da Costa.

Guimarães, like all Minho, hosts popular festivals that take place mainly in the summer, in practically all of its parishes. Examples of this are S. Pedro de Caldas das Taipas, the Romaria Grande de S. Torcato, S. Jorge and S. Brás in Pevidém, the Cruzes de Serzedelo, S. Tiago in Ronfe, S. João in Polvoreira .
Gualterianas are the biggest festivals, the city festivals and take place on the first weekend of August.
Nicolinas are the festivities for secondary school students, but they have long involved the whole city, year after year, between 29 November and 7 December.

The main dishes are revealed in the traditional recipes of Minho cuisine and are not very different from those found in other cities of Minho: chicken rice "pica no piso", rojões and stuffed tripe, sarrabulho porridge and rice from the same, baked or stuffed cod. Accompanying these dishes is invariably the region's green wine.
Traditional Guimarães sweets consist of convent sweets: toucinho-do-Céu and Guimarães pies.

Its handicraft is well known by couples of lovers, due to Cantarinha dos Namorados, a kind of pitcher made of red clay and sprinkled with white mica.