The city of Braga (where my family comes) is the third largest urban centre in Portugal after Lisboa and Porto and one of the oldest cities in Europe. With a poulation around 200,000, old glamorous Braga has a terrific energy.
Human occupation of the region dates back thousands of years, documented by vestiges of monumental structures starting in the Megalithic era. During the Iron Age, the Castro culture extended into the northwest Iberia, characterized by Bracari peoples who occupied the high ground in strategically located fortified settlements (castrum). The region of Braga became the domain of the «Callaici Bracarii», or Bracarenses, a Celtic tribe who occupied what is now northern Portugal, Galicia and Asturias.
The Romans began their conquest of the region around 136 BC and finished it during the reign of Emperor Augustus. In the context of the administrative reorganization of these Roman acquisitions, Bracara was rededicated to the Emperor taking on the name Bracara Augusta in 20 BC
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