Barcelos (Portugal)

Barcelos is a city in Portugal's Minho region on the Portuguese Way path of the Camino de Santiago. In 2017, Barcelos was added the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for its crafts and folk art.

Understand




Barcelos (/bɐɾˈsɛluʃ/, buhr-SEHL-oosh) began as a Roman settlement, and grew to become the seat of the First Duke of Bragança in the 15th century. The duke's palace was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake, and is now an open-air museum.

The galo de Barcelos ("Rooster of Barcelos") has become a symbol of the entire country. Legend has it that a Galician pilgrim travelling through town was arrested for stealing silverware from a wealthy resident. The Galician pleaded his innocence, but the judge didn't believe him and sentenced the man to death. The judge was about to tuck into his roasted rooster dinner when the pilgrim said, "If I am innocent, this rooster will crow three times." When the pilgrim was about to be hanged, the rooster crowed. The startled judge released the pilgrim.

The entire municipality has over 120,000 people (2011), while the central city has under 5,000.

Get in
Barcelos can be reached via the A3 (Autoestrada de Entre-Douro-e-Minho) and A11 (Auto-Estrada do Baixo Minho) motorways.

Do

 * Football: Gil Vicente FC play soccer in Primeira Liga, Portugal's top tier. Their home ground Estádio Cidade de Barcelos (capacity 12,500) is 2 km north of town centre.