The dark green emerald (Minho)

Name: shadow_pay

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Product:	Minho
Date:	29/05/04 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Monuments, Green areas

Disadvantages: Traffic, Signs

Minho is a province in the north of this beautiful country named Portugal. It has lots of various things to visit, from great monuments to natural places of extreme beauty.

Main settlements

Viana do Castelo ? Founded at the ford of the Lima River, this town has wonderfull beaches and lots of things that lovers of the ocean will adore. If you prefer mountains and hills, they are also in abundance around the town. The place is somewhat small and, besides a great and beautifull temple and two forts, has very little monuments to see.

Braga ? A town surrounded by hills. Every wilderness lover will simply adore this. Monuments are also very abundant with several churches and some romam ruins. Comerce is also a plus, since this is the Portuguese town with more commerce per square meter. Besides this, the place is just a concentration of concrete blocks.

Guimarães ? The historical capital and cradle of the nation. Here you can see the castle of Afonso Henriques, founder of Portugal, and the palace where several generations of Portuguese kings lived. Beware of soccer nights though, since this town has the closest things Portuguese have to hooligan.

Other places of interest

Minho River ? All the extension of this river in the Portuguese site is amazing with huge areas of forest interrupted by beautiful towns and amazing fortresses that used to protect the country from the Spaniards.

Gerês ? A natural park of amazing beauty. Those used to a more English wilderness will find this place very different with a lot of trees not usually seen in English soil and a lot more rocky (this side of the country is full bald and rocky hills).

Other advantages

The proximity to Spain ? The region is very close to the Spanish province of
Galiza, being just a few hours of travel away (even from it most southeast point).

Transports

Transport in this side of the country is very easy to get. Train reaches the main towns and there are lots of buses to everywhere. Be aware that in some places the train line isn?t in the best condition (making a very bumpy ride) but this is being renovated has I write so the problem might not apply some years from now. Also most the buses are far from being the latest model, so don?t expect the best condition and breakdowns happen sometimes.

Problems

Trafic. Portuguese people drive like hell and that is reflected from the number of accidents that happen. Avoid especially holydays since drunk driving is very common in those days.

Also the country is very badly signed so you should get a really good map and a guide to help you find what you want to see or you take serious chances of getting lost. Also Portuguese don?t usually speak English (or any other language besides Portuguese) very well so don?t think of asking for directions.

Minho is a very beautifull region that will call to lovers of mountains and sea alike. Also fans of monuments and history will certainly find interesting places to visit (some forts and castles are still in ruins since the government doesn?t invest that much on history). But if you are looking for big cities with lots of malls to visit and cultural activities I recommend you to start looking another place.

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