Day 59: NP Peneda-Gerês - Braga

July 22 - Leave our hotel after breakfast and head southwest. Come down out of the mountains but stay on small roads through hills to Citania de Briteiros.

A view of the newer, Roman foundations of the city.

This site is similar to Castro de Monte Mozinho, which we visited on Day 54. It is originally an Iron Age site (of the Castro culture) that was taken over by Roman settlers in the 1st C CE. But it is much larger than the former, the 7 Ha currently excavated are thought to be a small part of the entire city. It is also located at the top of a hill, overlooking an intersection of rivers.

Possibly a granary or pen for animals.

A few more recent churches were built here much later.

In a spot that has a good view of the valley is a round structure that is thought to have been a meeting place of the community council. It has a low bench along the wall around its inner perimeter.

The bathhouse. It has a water source, a furnace, and the above decorated portal. It is thought the baths were ritual in nature, perhaps as part of a religious ceremony, one that is almost certainly pre-Roman.

There happened to be a good example here of a cork tree with bark removed, perhaps a few years ago, with old bark higher up on the branches left intact.

Onward to the outer skirts of Braga to see Bom Jesus do Monte, a church, staircase, park, and religious retreat.

The famous Bom Jesus Staircase, with episodes of Jesus’ life at every flight landing.

These corkscrew fountains has water running all the way down from the top.

One of the creepier water fountains along the staircase. It was good they were there, however, as today it is getting hot. I suspect Portugal is now entering a heat wave.

Go through Braga to our room, located in a private house where a family lives. There is a swimming pool, so several hours are spent there as Odette tries diving (there is a diving board). I go into downtown to see the remains of a Roman bathhouse and ampitheatre.

The Roman Thermae of Maximus. Fairly standard layout for a Roman bathhouse. The piles of bricks are supports for what would have been an elevated floor with fires underneath.

The remains of the amphitheater, still being excavated. Roman Braga was large enough that it was granted permission to have an amphitheater.

Drive around town looking for a dinner restaurant, the place we end up in is decent. Feels like the end of the vacation, just logistics from here on out.