Cathedral

Lonely Planet review

Braga's extraordinary Cathedral is the oldest in Portugal, begun when the archdiocese was restored in 1070 and completed in the following century. It's a rambling complex encompassing a jumble of architectural styles, and architectural buffs could spend half a day happily distinguishing the Romanesque bones from Manueline musculature and baroque frippery.

The original Romanesque style is the most interesting and survives in the cathedral's overall shape, the southern entrance and the marvellous west portal, which is carved with scenes from the medieval legend of Reynard the Fox (now sheltered inside a Gothic porch).The most appealing external features are the filigree Manueline towers and roof - an early work by João de Castilho, who went on to build Lisbon's Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. In a niche on the east wall is the lovely Nossa Senhora do Leite of the Virgin suckling Christ, attributed to 16th-century, expatriate French sculptor Nicolas Chanterène. You can enter the cathedral through the west portal or via a courtyard and cloister lined with Gothic chapels on the north side. The church itself has a fine Manueline carved altarpiece, a tall chapel with azulejos (hand-painted tiles) telling the story of Braga's first bishop, and fantastic twin baroque organs held up by formidable satyrs and mermen. To go upstairs, you must join a snail's-pace tour of the treasury - not surprisingly, a tremendous treasure-trove of ecclesiastical booty, including an iron cross that was used in 1500 to celebrate the very first Mass in Brazil and a flowery pair of high-heeled (10cm) shoes made for a particularly diminutive archbishop. Then it's on to the choir stalls and an up-close look at the mesmerising organs: this alone is worth the wait - or you can just ask the guide to start here. Then you'll be led downstairs and into the cathedral's showpiece Capela dos Reis (Kings' Chapel), home to the tombs of Henri of Burgundy and Dona Teresa, parents of the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques. Finally, you arrive at the 14th-century Capela da Glória, whose interior was painted in unrepentantly Moorish geometric motifs in the 16th century.