"Up there" the thrill has an accent, stares you in the face and challenges your courage. The adventure begins when you drive through the deep valleys, whether by motorbike or rental car. It is a unique experience. You feel like you're in Switzerland or the Black Forest, which is why we say in Portugal: these are the "plateaus" (Terras Altas). Here you can go climbing or rafting on the torrents of the region. The will to be brave will follow you all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, where as a passionate surfer you will have to follow the urge of freedom to dominate the waves and as a sailor you will have to follow the wind with total freedom.

You must visit this region if you are generally deficient in sports and lifestyle, because besides rafting, climbing, kite surfing, BTT and just jogging through nature, the region up there offers much more.

In the north, the mountains are shrouded in mystery, but they hold no secrets. Everything is there for all to see. Here you will find the Peneda-Gerês National Park. It is the first national park in Portugal with wild horses and wolves. Since 1971, it has distinguished the Peneda-Gerês region as an exemplary protected area in Portugal. Its territory encompasses the entire vast forest area stretching from the "Serra da Peneda" to the "Serra do Gerês" - hence the name - and also includes the "Serra do Soajo" and the "Serra Amarela".

Author: @micaelrodrigues;

But the north offers even more: Braga and Guimarães are its secret capitals and both hold a great treasure of Portuguese history. Braga, along with Fatima, is the religious heart of Portugal. In the "Semana Santa" (Holy Holy Week), the famous Easter processions take place here.

But Braga also includes Bosch, of course, and it is the group's largest concentration in Portugal. This Bosch site, which focuses on the development and production of multimedia solutions and vehicle sensors, is also home to teams from other mobility-related business areas, such as "Cross-Domain Computing Solutions" and many others. The company exports almost all of its production and is on the podium of the Portuguese companies that export the most and is also one of the largest employers in the Braga region.

Credits: envato elements; Author: @diegograndi;

Guimarães is also an important industrial and historical location in this region and should therefore not be left out. After all, Guimarães is the birthplace of Portugal. Many visitors from Brazil and other countries come here to follow Portugal on its historical path, to gain impressions of what it was like back then, when the first knights in Portugal took up the fight against the barbarians and the Berbers. In addition, Guimarães was Portugal's capital and the birthplace of the first Portuguese king "D. Afonso Henriques" in 1109 AD.

Guimarães and Braga have two of Portugal's top universities and are in tune with the needs of the new generations. There is even a German restaurant in the heart of Braga that offers "Pretzel" and makes Portuguese food understandable to German visitors in the menu. Marcelo Sousa's Pretzel Bakery at 42 Rua do Souto.

by Paulo Lopes - Casaiberia Mediação Imobiliária, Lda

Author

Paulo Lopes is a multi-talent Portuguese citizen who made his Master of Economics in Switzerland and studied law at Lusófona in Lisbon - CEO of Casaiberia in Lisbon and Algarve.

Paulo Lopes