I visited the Bom Jesus do Monte whs on oct the 21st,2024.

Early in the morning I took the empty bus nr.2 in Braga's beautiful city centre to the Bom Jesus area where I arrived around 8.30 am.The last bus stop for bus number 2 was right next to the historical funicular and the stairs. According to google, the area should open its doors at 10:00. Absolute nonsense! I climbed up the historic stairs, giving myself enough time to closely inspect each of the small chapels with their wonderful figures depitcting scenes from the Bible. I needed around 45 minutes to reach the top level.  

Apart from 2-3 joggers and a nun I didnt encounter any other human being on my way up. However,when I reached the level with the basilica,the hotel and the cafe I already saw quite a few tourists. I intended to enter the basilica,but a religious ceremony was in progress and I didnt want to disturb the believers.

Instead, I bought some expensive and bad coffee and sat on a bench. There I enjoyed the sun for a while (and less my bad coffee). After 15 minutes I got up and wanted to go to the basilica when I noticed the hordes of tourists who were now populating the upper level. I hadn't even realized that hundreds of people had arrived within a very short time. Several groups with their guides were running back and forth taking pictures of every stone and plant.

I quickly visited the Basilica and the artificial cave next to the church building. Then I went up to the mini lake and its cafe. Nobody was there. There are free toilets there - the toilets next to the basilica can only be entered after paying and are blocked by long queues of tourists.

I also visited the santuario park there with its three chapels and a foutain.

After that I decided to go down the stairs...........the basilica level looked like a mini disneyland by now......long lines in front of the funicular ticket counter......on my way down quite a lot of people were on the stairs and I didnt enjoy my descent as much as my ascent.

All in all I spent around 1,45-2h there. I strongly recommend that every future visitor gets there as early as possible.....when I arrived at the parking lot next to the funicular station, there were already several coaches there..... .

The Bom Jesus area is obviously a quite popular tourist destination for organised tourist groups with their guides. A pure hell for every world heritage connoisseur!

Despite of all I enjoyed my time there.
Not only did the  stairs enchant me, but also the baroque statues, the small chapel decorations,the figures inside the chapels,the fountains, the arrangement of the stair levels, the perspectives.....the entire ensemble was bewitching.

My heart bleeds when I see religious shrines or holy places overrun by hordes of photo terrorists and badly dressed organised tourist groups.

Thats why I very much like the russian monasteries,muslim mosques or buddhist temples where one can feel the holiness of those places.

The Braga shrine had the feeling of a tourist disneyland.. Therefore,be there as early as possible! 

As you can see from my picuture at 8.30 (till around 9.10 a.m) I had the place to myself.