Semana Santa de Braga

Braga has been an archiepiscopal seat since Roman times and its Holy Week is the most elaborate in Portugal. Processions run from Palm Sunday through to Easter, organised by brotherhoods in coloured robes and pointed hoods - the farricocos, barefoot penitents in dark robes carrying rattles and torches, walk the Ecce Homo procession on Maundy Thursday night through streets where the electric lights are switched off and households put candles in the windows. Other processions carry life-size figures and images from the city's churches, with the Senhor da Cana Verde and the Burial of the Lord among the largest. Flowers and coloured sawdust are laid across the streets. The city was already the country's religious capital by reputation - the saying is that Braga prays while Porto works and Lisbon shows off - and the week is where that shows.

What you actually see

• The farricocos - barefoot hooded penitents with rattles and torches on Thursday night.
• The darkened streets - public lighting turned off and candles in the windows.
• The brotherhoods - robed and hooded confraternities in coloured habits.
• The images - life-size figures carried from the city's churches.

When to go

Holy Week, falling in March or April. Three to seven days for the full sequence; Maundy Thursday night is the one not to miss. Book far ahead.

Honest expectations

Accommodation across Braga and towards Porto fills months in advance. Processions run late into the night in cold weather. This is devotion, not spectacle - photograph with restraint. Streets close and driving in the centre is impossible.

Nearby

Bom Jesus do Monte is above the city; Tibães monastery is west.