Fafe
Fafe is known for the fine buildings and mansions raised by emigrants who came home rich from Brazil. Read on for the story of those emigrants, a museum in an old railway goods shed, 25 rally cars, a narrow-gauge line that ran until 1986 and a hillfort with 3,000 years of history.
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Fafe, in the district of Braga, has been inhabited for at least 3,000 years; one of its key archaeological sites is the Castro de Santo Ovídio, a hillfort about 1 km east of the centre. Manuel I granted the town its first charter on 15 November 1514, the name Fafe is first recorded in 1647, and until 1840 the municipality was known as Montelongo. In the 19th century many people from Fafe emigrated to Brazil in search of fortune, and those who returned spent their savings on fine buildings and mansions.
On 12 July 2001 the council created the Museu das Migrações e das Comunidades, the first of its kind in Portugal, to study emigration, especially to Brazil in the 19th and early 20th centuries and to other European countries in the second half of the 20th century, and the return of the emigrants. Fafe was served by the narrow-gauge Guimarães line from 1907 to 1986, and the old goods warehouse of its station is now the Estação Memória, an interpretive museum whose "capsule carriages" tell the story of the "brasileiros de torna-viagem", the emigrants who came home rich from Brazil, along with the legend of the "Justiça de Fafe" and traditions such as the jogo do pau, a stick-fighting game.
The Museu do Rali, opened on 10 July 2021, displays 25 rally cars along with racing suits, helmets, models and posters, and puts on exhibitions about Fafe and the Rally de Portugal. The Museu da Imprensa, opened on 25 April 1996, was set up to keep the presses and equipment used to print two local newspapers founded in 1892 and 1909, including a press from 1885.
The craft beer scene in Fafe is still waiting to be discovered. After exploring Fafe's history, travellers can look around the wider Minho, towards Guimarães and Braga, to see what is being poured nearby.
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Frequently asked questions
Fafe is in the district of Braga and has been inhabited for at least 3,000 years; a hillfort about 1 km east of the centre is one of its key archaeological sites. Manuel I granted the town its first charter in 1514, and until 1840 the municipality was known as Montelongo.
In the 19th century many people from Fafe emigrated to Brazil in search of fortune, and those who returned spent their savings on fine buildings and mansions. In 2001 the council created a museum, the first of its kind in Portugal, to study emigration, especially to Brazil and later to other European countries, and the emigrants' return.
Fafe was served by the narrow-gauge Guimarães line from 1907 to 1986. The station's old goods warehouse is now an interpretive museum whose 'capsule carriages' tell the story of the emigrants who came home rich from Brazil, along with the legend of the 'Justiça de Fafe' and the jogo do pau, a stick-fighting game.
A rally museum, opened in 2021, displays 25 rally cars along with racing suits, helmets, models and posters, and puts on exhibitions about Fafe and the Rally de Portugal. A press museum, opened in 1996, was set up to keep the presses and equipment used to print two local newspapers founded in 1892 and 1909, including a press from 1885.