Postcard from Braga, Portugal: Regional Minho dishes and imported flavors

A Portuguese postage stamp featuring a wheel of São Jorge cheese with a wedge cut out, labeled 'Queijos Portugueses' and priced at €0.80.

Above: Shrimp pinxtos with passion fruit and nuts at O Filho da Mae

The majority of visitors to Braga are day-trippers based in Porto or on cruise ships, as the city is located a mere 30 miles north of the bustling port city. We stayed a bit longer, as we tend to do. Here is a brief look into dishes we sampled in restaurants listed in alphabetical order, plus a bonus from nearby Guimaraes where we were the day-trippers,

When we stumbled into Casa de Pasto das Carvalheiras, we must have looked somewhat bedraggled. Braga was the first place we were staying overnight on land since leaving Austin. The staff welcomed us warmly into the pub-like environment. An easy first stop. Shaved melon brought out the flavor of tuna carpaccio with pistachios; and mussels arrived in a spicy broth. Barley risotto was flavored by paprika and pork sausage, as one expects in this Minho region of Portugal.

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Postcard from Guimaraes, Portugal: Bridging cultural divides through art

A vintage postage stamp from the 1934 Colonial Exhibition in Portugal, depicting a portrait of a woman with a headscarf and traditional attire.

Above: Beaded Bamileke warrior, Cameroon, Central Africa, on exhibit in Jose de Guimaraes International Arts Center.

Linked by invisible threads, the objects seem to talk to each other independently of our presence. An African fetish points to a pre-Columbian vase; a skull imagined by Jose de Guimaraes contrast with a bronze object from ancient China; statuettes speak with paintings without time separating them. As the objects gaze at each other…, it becomes evident that the associated narratives are infinite. The objects ask: ‘How should we live together?'”

Curator notes, Jose de Guimaraes International Arts Center

A carefully curated combination of works by and collected from around the world by artist Jose de Guimaraes (1939-) – 1,128 objects by his count – occupy the sprawling galleries of the first floor of the Jose de Guimaraes International Arts Center.

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