Braga was a breath of fresh air after my time in Porto. It was a lovely, clean city with a wonderful car-free center. The car-free streets are glorious. They’re wide streets with beautiful garden beds and children running free and playing. Gelato stands are everywhere you look on the street and no block is without a bakery with wonderful treats like pastel de nata. Even the streets with cars have wide, clean sidewalks making for easy walking. Cars seem to move a bit slower than in Porto too.
The weather is great here. Lots of sunshine. Little rain in my time here.
Just like Porto, people were very friendly. I even made a bit of a friend in a Brazillian guy who works at my favorite bakery, just two doors down from my first apartment here.
As much as I enjoyed my time here, this fits well within the category of “it’s a nice place, but I wouldn’t want to live here.” It’s mostly because the language barrier is too much for me to overcome right now. The only other factor is that the smallness of the place means there’s not a lot here. I can get everything I need, but I would like easier access to a bigger city. Porto isn’t far, but it’s far enough to be a commitment to get there.