One Thousand Steps to Sanctuary
Date: 02/10/2005Dear International Living Reader,
The guidebook says there are 1,000 steps up to the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus. As I lost count, I'll have to take their word for it. But I can tell you, there are a lot of them.
If you have plenty of sins that need shriving, you'll find the Sanctuary in woodlands high above the northern Portuguese city of Braga. The white-painted staircase is absolutely jaw-dropping--a baroque extravaganza of statuary, gurgling fountains, and candle-lit chapels containing carved tableaux of the Stations of the Cross. Apparently on holy days, religiously fervent Portuguese shuffle up the steep staircase on their knees.
Churches and baroque palaces...squat stone keeps and fragments of Roman walls: Braga is like a layer-cake of Portuguese history. Back down in the town, I've found an English-speaking real estate agent. The best apartments here are fetching around $130 per square foot, but there are others for around $100 per square foot. Restored stone houses in the surrounding countryside start at $125,000. I'll report more on real estate in Portugal in the March print issue, available soon for paid subscribers.
If you're looking for a cheap and filling lunch for under $10 in Braga, try Flor on Praca Conde de Agrolongo. It's neat (wooden tables with yellow checked cloths), homely, and caters to hungry local workmen. Home-made vegetable soup, two tasty pork chops--a carafe of red wine filled from a giant barrel. Simple, but wonderfully authentic.
Steenie Harvey
Roving Euro-editor, International Living
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