Aveiro

Aveiro is a portugal city that operated as an important port city until the 17th century. In the center of the city, there are various colorful houses, churches and canals. I think you will love Aveiro, especially if you go on a sunny day. You do not need to use any public transport to visit various places in the center. It is possible to go anywhere by walking or by bicycle, and a day trip will be sufficient to see the important points of the city.

Aveiro City Center

You can reach this city from Guimarães, Braga and Porto using the intercity trains.

https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/pt

You can check the hours and prices on this site. I do not know whether the ticket can be bought on the site or not, but it will be a more guaranteed option to get it from the city's train station. Because there are always people who control the ticket in the trains. Also, if you buy the tickets at the train station with a group of 8-10 friends, the prices of the tickets will drop, so bear in mind.

Outside the city center, Costa Nova, which is located near the ocean, is one of the top things to see in Aveiro. You can reach Costa Nova by bus from the city center or the train station.

In Costa Nova, there are several different and colorful fishing houses, an excellent beach and market area. As I mentioned above, if you are going to Aveiro on a sunny day, I think you will love Aveiro and especially Costa Nova.

If you see an ocean for the first time in your life, I think this excitement is quite natural for the first time. With such a marginal pose, you can immortalize that moment. :)

Aveiro

Aveiro 17. Yüzyıla kadar önemli bir liman şehri olarak faaliyet göstermiş bir portekiz şehridir.  Şehrin merkezinde rengarenk çeşitli evler, kiliseler ve kanallar yer almaktadır. Özellikle güneşli bir günde giderseniz Aveiro'yu seveceğinizi düşünüyorum. Merkezde çeşitli yerleri gezmek için herhangi bir toplu taşıma aracı kullanmanıza gerek yok. Her yere yürüyerek ya da bisiklet kullanarak gitmeniz mümkün ve ayrıca  şehrin önemli noktalarını görmek için günübirlik bir gezi yeterli olacaktır.

Aveiro Şehir Merkezi

Bu şehre Guimarães'ten, Braga'dan ve Porto'dan şehirlerarası trenlerini kullanarak ulaşabilirsiniz. 

https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/pt

Bu siteden saatlere ve ücretlere bakabilirsiniz. Biletin site üzerinden alınıp, alınamayacağına dair bir bilgim yok ancak hangi şehirdeyseniz o şehrin tren istasyonundan almanız daha garanti bir seçenek olacaktır. Zira trenlerin içinde her zaman bileti kontrol eden insanlar bulunuyor. Ayrıca tren istasyonunda biletleri  8-10 kişilik bir arkadaş grubuyla almanız halinde, biletlerin fiyatları da düşüyor, aklınızda bulunsun.

Şehrin merkezi dışında ise okyanusun yakınlarında yer alan Costa Nova bana göre Aveiro'da mutlaka gidilmesi gerekenlerin en başında yer alıyor. Costa Nova'ya şehrin merkezinden ya da tren garından kalkan otobüslerle ulaşabilirsiniz. 

Costa Nova'da birbirinden farklı ve rengarenk çeşitli balıkçı evleri, mükemmel bir sahil ve pazar alanı yer almaktadır. Yukarıda belirttiğim gibi Aveiro'ya güneşli bir günde gidiyorsanız Aveiro'yu ve özellikle Costa Nova'yı çok seveceğinizi düşünüyorum.

Hayatınızda ilk defa bir okyanus görüyorsanız bu heyecan ilk sefer için gayet doğal diye düşünüyorum. Böyle marjinal bir poz ile o anı ölümsüzleştirebilirsiniz. :)

Places to Vısıt ın Guimarães

Guimarães City Center

Guimarães is a complete history, and the Portuguese fully respected it. It can be said that if you remove the modern buildings from the city, you will see that there is no difference with 200 years ago. It is not possible to come across a collapsed, destroyed structure or a cut tree. Almost all pavements and houses are made of uniform stone. This is enough to show the historical texture of Guimarães as a whole.

It is possible to visit the city center on foot without the need for a car or any means of transportation. In general, places to visit are located around the castle.

You can start your trip from the castle because the castle is at the highest point. If you start here, you do not have to climb the hill over and over again.

The castle has no other characteristics than normal castles, but when Portugal is established, many victories are gained with this castle. “After centuries, new military tactics caused the castle to lose its defensive function and gradually be abandoned and deteriorated. In the 20th century, the castle was restored and later classified as a National Monument. ”

Also the evening lighting of the castle is not bad. :) 

Right next to the castle is the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza. The palace is being built for the first Duke of Bragança. It was once used by various dukes for dignity and showing off, and later to help homeless and needy people. Today, it operates as a museum that houses historical monuments in a restored way.

As you travel from the palace to the city center, you come across churches, historical streets and squares apart from structures such as castles and palaces. Oliveira Square is right after Santa Maria (the street that hosts Tasquilhado and one of the oldest places in Guimarães). This square and street nights are the most lively places of Guimarães. Various concerts and big events take place in this square.

Tasquilhado is the bar where Erasmus students go especially on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Apart from this, Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira (Church of Our Lady of Oliveira), whose origin is based on the foundation of Guimarães, is located in the city center. While operating as a church providing education in the 12th century, it has become a very important religious center in the Middle Ages. It took its final form in 1967 and continues today as a church only.

Penha

Penha is the first place I recommend you to go to in Guimarães. If I briefly describe the penha, it is the national park at the highest point of the city. You can see the church, built at the highest point of the national park, from almost every part of the city, and even from outside the city.

You can reach Penha by car, pedestrian, bus or cable car. The most logical among them is the cable car. If you decide to go, I definitely recommend using the Cable Car. The last fare of the cable car was 5 Euros.

If you are doing Erasmus in Guimarães, I definitely recommend you to go on foot. You climb about 5 km from the city center. Is it worth it? I think it's definitely worth it.

Many of the photos were taken by me and some by my friends.

Erasmus ın Guimarães:Clımate

I would also like to touch on the climate issue for those who will be doing Erasmus in Guimarães or Braga because if you have enough information about the climate issue, you can benefit from various conveniences by providing serious savings while bringing and transporting goods.

First of all, the period of my stay was the Fall semester and included the months of September-February.

Some of the items that I would suggest you take or have in this timeframe are:

Umbrella or raincoat: For Guimarães and Braga, it is possible to come across rain especially from November to the end of January. Especially in January, rains increase very much, so I recommend you bring an umbrella with you or buy it from where you come from. You can also bring a raincoat if you can. This allows you to get rid of the umbrella load not only for Portugal, but also during the trip. If we think that your bag will be with you during the trip, the raincoat will be a smarter choice and you will avoid the trouble of carrying an umbrella.

Boots and Winter Coats: If you can wear these two items while going to the erasmus, there is no problem, but the place where the boots and coat covers in the suitcase is very much. I took both of them in the suitcase while I was going to the erasmus, but when I returned, I put them both on me. I definitely recommend bringing boots and coats because it may be one of the warmest countries in Europe, but it can be very cold at times. Apart from that, other countries you visit will definitely be colder. That's why you will need this duo a lot during your trips.

Do not prefer anything thin about coats. Bring a thick thin if you can, but if you give up one, get that thin coat. I had no problems with boots, but I regretted that I did not choose thicker for coats.

Apart from that, I recommend that you bring a large volume bag with a carrying capacity of at least 12-15 Kg. If you have such a bag, you can choose this bag instead of a suitcase. A bag with a volume of 40 liters or 60 liters will be enough for you

It is not uncommon to come across a heating system in buildings, especially in these two cities. For this reason, some nights are very cold especially in winter. The dorm in my stay had a heater in the rooms and was generally sufficient. However, there was no heater in the house where my friends were staying, and sometimes they had a hard time.

The word cold is the first thing that comes to my mind when talking about Erasmus. Cold played a very corrosive role in the places we stayed and especially during the trips. Combined with insomnia and fatigue, it can be incredibly frustrating. While reading here, my travel companions will understand very well what I mean. I do not think that there is another group that pushed the limits so much during the Erasmus period and I claim.

In a nutshell: It will give you many advantages to strictly investigate the climate of your destination, not to try to save some of the essential things, and to consider the weight limit when choosing items.

Erasmus ın Guimarães:Transportatıon

I have no idea about urban transportation because I have never used urban transportation and everywhere you can go is within walking distance.

First, I can start from Guimarães-Braga.

Guimaraes-Braga
I said that there is a bus terminal on the ground floor of Guimarães Shopping Center. If you want to go to Braga by a bus you take from there, you will pay 3.30 Euros for this journey. With the bus you take from the Minho University exit, you pay 1.30 Euros for the same journey. The difference between these two buses is one company bus and the other is a public bus. That's why I highly recommend using public buses. Public buses also take you to more central locations in Braga, while the private bus takes you directly to the Braga terminal. This terminal is located a little away from the center.

Porto-Guimaraes
I do not recommend using external GetBus on the first and last days. The cheapest way to go to the portal from Guimarães is by using Train. You get on the train from the Guimarães Train station. The train station is 1 km from the center.

You can buy your Guimarães-Porto ticket from the employee at the box office or from machines at the station. The ticket for the departure ticket was 3.20 Euros and you have to get off at Sao Bento (Last Stop).

If you are thinking of going to the airport, you should get off at the Campanha stop. (Previous stop from Sao Bento) Once you get off at the Campanha stop, you will transfer. You need to buy a new ticket and change the line, the ticket price was 2 Euros.

You can find the price of the tickets, the places you want to go and the train times on the link below. All trains you get from Guimarães are intercity trains and this site is valid only for intercity trains. For example, if you plan to move from Campanha to the airport, it will not be useful to look at the site below. Because the train from Campanha to the airport is called the city train.

Guimaraes-Aveiro
You have to use the same Train station to go to Aveiro. You can also make your Aveiro trip with the help of this site. Prices were decreasing in ticket purchases as a group. You can ask for detailed information at Guimarães Train Station. There were several campaigns valid in Aveiro and nearby cities, you can see this information on the billboards at the station.

https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/

Guimaraes-Lisbon
If you want to go from Lisbon Guimarães, you should definitely prefer the bus. It will be a less tiring, inexpensive and easy choice compared to the train and plane. You can get your bus ticket online or at the Guimarães Shopping Center. As I mentioned in the article on the first day, the bottom floor of this Shopping Center is used as the bus terminal. There are also branches of various bus companies here, but if you do not make your journey suddenly, I recommend buying the ticket online. Because the bus prices of the companies located here are a bit more expensive than the companies on the internet.

In my later writings, I will try to give more details of these cities.

Erasmus ın Guimarães:Shopping

During Erasmus, I think it is very important to adjust the economy and spend money on your main priorities with balanced spending. You can deprive yourself of the opportunity to see a new city or a country, instead of eating unplanned, buying new things you don't really need, or getting things you'll never look at. Personally, my priority was to make the maximum number of trips with the money I had. Its quality did not concern me much, it was to see many places that interest me. So I tried to eat strictly planned and I was afraid of all unnecessary expenses.

Anyway, let's come to the main point: First of all, the markets that I will share are common brands across Portugal, so it is not specific to Guimarães.

Bolama: This market is smaller than other markets and some products are cheaper than other markets. However, this does not mean that “a product sold in bolama cannot be found cheaper in other markets”. I write by generalization. For example, if I buy eggs, I always bought them from bolama because there were big differences compared to others. You can follow this by buying different products from all markets.

After a certain period of time, you will have already figured out what you should get from where.

Summary of this market: You cannot find everything you are looking for, but you will get some typical products cheaper than other markets.

Pingo Doce: A market where I usually buy meat, fruits and vegetables, bread and pastries.
Summary of this market: You will find most of the things you are looking for and their prices are not different from other markets.

Continente: This market is located in the Guimarães Shopping center. It is huge, the prices are like any other and you will find everything you are looking for.

In addition, if you are going to do a collective shopping, you can go to this market with your friends and do your shopping, then take a taxi and go to your accommodation to avoid the transportation problem. Shopping will become an exhausting activity after a certain period of time, as you are constantly walking in Guimarães.

There are two big shopping malls I know in Guimarães. One is Guimarães Shopping Center and the other is Espaço Guimarães. It is possible to find anything you want here. Since Espaço Guimarães is far from the center, buses from the center bring it for free. If you want to go, Espaço Guimarães is written on the buses.

Finally, there is a large Decathlon in Guimarães. You can go by taxi for three or four people, 6 km from the center. We went on foot. Here you can find everything related to sports.

If you want to shop outside of Guimarães, the first place I would suggest you go is Braga. You can buy very cheap things for clothing and technology from shopping centers in Braga.


You can ask any questions about Portugal or Erasmus by mail.

                                                                                                                          Barış YILDIRIM

Erasmus ın Guimarães:Dormıtory and Food

If you are staying in a dormitory for the first time, this article will help you a little more, but friends who keep the house will benefit as much as those who stay in the dormitory. I stayed in Minho's dormitory. Residencias Universitarias de Azurem.

University of Minho

The dorm consists of double rooms, usually trying to put people of the same nation in the same room. If you say: I am going to Erasmus, I want to improve my English, so I do not want to spend time with people from my own country, it is possible to change your room. I do not want to give any advice on this subject, so it is entirely up to you. Most of my friends were Turks, and thanks to them we have done so much that we cannot do it with others, it was definitely worth it. We have done things in a group that a person cannot plan, dare and do all his life alone. They will probably understand what I mean when they read here.

  

Minho University from the main building

The dormitory consists of three blocks, each block consists of four floors. Two floors of the main building are female students and the other two floors are male students. There is no floor separation in other blocks. The main building of the dorm (opposite the security booth) has a canteen and shared kitchens. On the lower floors of the remaining two buildings, there are working room and washing machines respectively. Unfortunately there is no stove in the kitchens, there are microwave ovens, but they are insufficient to cook. Each room has a bathroom and toilet, as well as a refrigerator. If you are in the main building of the dormitory, the bathroom and toilet are in common areas but not in the rooms. Electric heaters are also available for the winter period.

Coming to dinner, if you are staying in the dormitory, the microwave will help in various dishes, but what you can do is always limited. So as soon as you go, you can buy an electric cooker, if you get a partner with your roommate or someone else, the price drops, but even if you buy the electric cooker on your own, it's not an expensive thing.

The dormitory is located within the school borders, so transportation is not a problem. There is a gym next to the dormitory, and Bar Academico (the school's own bar, you can go to special events on Wednesdays) about 300 meters away.

The transition from dormitory to school is provided by this small bridge.
The building opposite is the 24/7 Open Library of the school.

Gym: In Erasmus, if you do not attend classes, you will have quite a lot of free time in general. I definitely recommend this gym to those who want to think. I have never regretted the process I went for about three months. The teacher who is interested in the gym does not speak English, but translates from his computer to talk to you. The programs he prepared according to his age and experience were very successful. Those who want to get detailed information about this gym can also write to me. Finally, Erasmus students can organize indoor football among themselves. These matches are usually played here.

If we come to places where you can eat when you are not cooking:

First of all, if you are in the dormitory, everything is generally in the canteen of the dormitory and the prices are at an average level, but I have never used it except for soup. You can eat at the school's refectory. To summarize the food cultures very briefly: the basis of their food is based on fish and they use the fish in many dishes. Their soups are mainly vegetable. They add everything together. If the meal is meat, chicken usually comes out. In the dining hall, there are usually one-month meal lists, you can set the day you want to go by looking at their names on the internet, I did not go except twice.

Let's go to some places where you can eat: Cachorrão, where I eat the most and see the best in terms of price / performance. You can reach his address by this name, Portugal's own brand and quite common. They have special menus, you will find these menus very comfortable on the wall when you go.

Let's get to the second place: When you leave the school, you will see large buildings right in front of you. There are cafes, stationeries and some shops under those buildings. Among them there is an Indian doner, Famy Kebab. If you are a kebab addict, I suggest you to go :) After Cachorrão, this was the place we went the most.

Our last place is a pastry shop: I couldn't find its name from the internet, but Igreja de Nossa is just across the church named Senhora da Olıveira, around the corner. A small shop. Dessert prices were affordable and prices dropped more than half, especially after 8 in the evening. I would definitely recommend that you go with this in mind. You can see the patisserie right behind where the photo was taken.

Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira

You can ask any questions about Portugal or Erasmus by mail.

Erasmus ın Guimarães: Fırst day detaıls and phone lıne

Going

Return

You won the Erasmus and found yourself at the Porto Airport.

After landing, you have two different options to switch to Guimarães: Train or bus. I will not give information about the train here because it would be unnecessary to talk about the difficult option on the first day. On the right side of the exit door of Porto Airport, you will see the branch of the company GetBus. GetBus will pick you up from the airport and take you to the center of Guimarães. (In February 2019, the price was 8 Euros.) What you need to learn from the GetBus branch is the departure time. they will get the money in the bus. Those who go to Braga with GetBus can also benefit. When asking for the time, it would be enough to indicate only Braga.

Guimarães shopping center is where you will get off in Guimarães. Since it is the last stop, you will not need any confusion. There is a nice thing about getting down at the Shopping Center, one of the first questions that come to your mind will be the phone line and you will solve the line problem here. Line prices are extremely affordable according to their tariffs. You will descend on the bottom floor of the Shopping Center, the bottom floor is kind of like a bus terminal. The shopping center consists of three floors: Ground floor, first and second floor. You will see the stands to get a line on the second floor. The phone line you will receive is WTF. These stands are set up for students, but since many students come to Minho University from outside, everyone at the stands can speak English. Tariffs are divided into W, T, F. The price difference and tariffs between them will cause you to get the most comprehensive package without thinking. Note that you will not receive W and T. You will receive an F package. (I do not explain it because you find it unnecessary to explain the alternatives where it is illogical and unnecessary in the article.) When you receive the F package, this tariff will be renewed every month and will continue for 3 months. So let me explain as follows. The fee you paid while buying this line was 10 Euros. You will benefit from this tariff for 3 months, which corresponds to 3.33 Euros per month. It will be more sensible to buy a new line after three months, because if you continue on this line, the prices will change and become expensive. For example, you will do Erasmus for 6 months, it will be enough to take 2 lines in this process. With a total of 20 Euros, you will meet your line needs for 6 months. If you state that you are an Erasmus student while buying it, you will prevent them from offering you alternative things. I do not want to go into the tariff details, because when you receive it, you will have information. These lines will also be very helpful in other country trips.

Before you go, look at the visuals of the places I said, if necessary, stroll through the streets of Guimarães, at least you have an idea.

Now let's go to the place you stay with the easiest method with suitcases in your hand. This method will definitely be taxis. You can take a taxi in front of the Guimarães Shopping Center. Since the taxi drivers are old, I cannot say that they are very reliable in English, so take a screenshot of your accommodation on the maps. The reason for the screenshot is that if you cannot agree with the taxi driver in the place of your accommodation, you have it with you. However, as I said before, because there are so many foreign students, taxi drivers generally know where to go, so it is not something to worry about. For example, you will stay in the dormitory of the school, if necessary, you can show a similar image to the taxi driver.

In addition:

I suggest you take something like sandwiches with you for the first day and the next day. When I went the first day, I was extremely tired and I had no energy to go out and eat.

I will share detailed information about Shopping and Dormitory in the next article.

You can ask any questions about Portugal or Erasmus by mail.

                                                                                                                                        Barış YILDIRIM

Erasmus ın Guimarães: A short summary of Guimarães and the Unıversıty of Mınho

The main reason I wrote this series is the lack of information I experienced before I went to Guimarães.

First of all, the majority of the content of this series will serve people who go to Guimarães for Erasmus. I think it will be a great help for friends who will go to the cities around Braga and Guimarães or Erasmus throughout Portugal. To start with, I will write everything that comes to my mind about Guimarães in a series, and then consider cities such as Braga-Aveiro-Porto-Lisbon separately.

I will start by giving you some information from the city guide I have. Then the article will become more enjoyable.

Guimarães Castle

“In the light of the facts revealed, it is not surprising that Guimarães was accepted by the Portuguese as the birthplace of national identity! A unique and special city, Guimarães is distinguished by its magnificently restored heritage, cultural dynamics and sense of belonging to its people. On the one hand, if the restoration work and the renewal of its heritage caused UNESCO to define the Historical Guimara Center as a World Cultural Heritage in 2001, cultural facilities were valued in Guimarães both nationally and internationally, places it in a leading position in the fields of arts and entertainment. Guimarães, the European Capital of Culture in 2012 and the European City of Sports in 2013, offers an open space to the world today, as a tradition of in-depth dialogue and cultural practice. Crossing the squares and walking around the city streets will give you a unique experience of feeling like a real Vimaranense (residents of Guimarães are often called "Vimaranenses").

Welcome! "

Guimarães is a small city in the north of Portugal. Although small, it contains everything in the big city in terms of content. When I first came to the city, my impression was that it was green and historic. It was not only Guimarães, it was green, most of all the roads from the airport to Guimarães were green, maybe this might have a connection with the climate because the air temperature was reaching the lowest 0 degrees in the year. Of course, there are some criteria that we can only call climate. For example, the importance people give to green or their respect for nature. Most of the people living here are aware that they need nature. I can say that I did not see garbage on the street during the five months of my stay. On the other hand, when it comes to its history, I can say that the city is almost built of stone. In modern houses, workplaces, all pavements, stones are used, and so it seems like a whole. The buildings that destroy the integrity are located away from the city center. There is also the Guimarães fortress in the center of the city. The castle is described as the place where Portugal was founded, although it does not take up much space, its walls extend all the way to the city center and there is the following writing on the wall of one of the walls in the city center. Aqui Nasceu Portugal (Portugal was born here). Afonso Henriques, the founder of Portugal, is the person who won many victories with this castle and also gained independence to the Portuguese kingdom.

MINHO UNIVERSITY

It is a university that was founded in 1973 and can be considered young. Despite its age, it has become one of the most important Universities in Portugal.

The University of Minho consists of two campuses. If you are going to Guimarães, most of the numerical sections as well as engineering and architecture departments are located here. On the Braga campus, while there are verbal departments such as language and literature, there is also  a medical faculty. Braga and Guimarães are two very close cities. It is also a more developed city than Braga Guimarães. In terms of university facilities, the facilities of Braga campus are more and it is the main campus.

Transportation between campuses is made within universities. You can get your tickets from campus stationeries. Single ticket is 1.40 Euro and if you buy 5x Ticket it is 5.50 Euro

If you do not want to get inside the school, you can go using the public buses from the exit of both campuses. It is especially important to use these buses to visit Braga or visit Guimarães. Because the price is more than double with private buses.

You can find detailed information about transportation in the transportation article of the series.

You can use this link to access all the detailed information about the university.

https://www.uminho.pt/EN.

Erasmus generally consists of three stages:
Pre-Erasmus period
Erasmus period
Post-Erasmus period

In this series, I will first give information about the Erasmus Period.

The main topics of this series will be 'Erasmus period in Guimarães and Guimarães' as I mentioned above.

You can ask any questions about Portugal or Erasmus by e-mail.

  I thank once again the precious people who helped me before I went.