It is time for Braga’s premiere festival of the year, Braga Romana*, a celebration of the city’s 2000-year old history. This is my first time here, we have guests who are experiencing it for the first time with us, and the weather is warm and sunny all weekend. Wooo!

(*To translate Portuguese articles, you can use a browser translation add-on.)

This will be my first experiment in almost-live dispatches. So bear with me, they will be less polished than writing where I take my time.

Day 1 – Wednesday

We peeked in on the opening ceremonies in the Praça Municipio, which was about half an hour of dance and acrobatics. Oh, preceded by speeches in Portuguese that we can’t understand yet, but give us a few years. Everyone involved in the festival is dressed in Roman costume, as are all the vendors. None of the spectators are, but I have a toga ready in case I need to cosplay.

Actually, this year’s costumes might be pre-Roman. New to the festival this year is rotating themes on a four-year cycle, and this year’s theme is the Bracari, or the people who were here *before* the Romans. I’ll try to learn more about them, are they Gaulish or Celtic? This is my chance to learn a lot of good history.

We didn’t get out again until the evening, when we decided to just wander around and take in the vibe. I’ve never seen the streets of Braga so crowded, and it’s only Wednesday. There’s a real folk festival vibe so far, with stages and music everywhere. We stopped at this concert for a while.

We found our way over to the Sé where one of the main stages is. I believe this is where they hold the fire shows, and I will try to learn more on Thursday.

Anyway, we’re just warming up. When our guests get here, we’ll plunge in and immerse ourselves.