The Braga Brief — Week of 26 June 2026: São João Bows Out With a First Carbon Audit, Vicens Opens Pré-Época With Four Signings, UMinho Strips 83% of a Drug From Tap Water

Bom dia, Braga. The week of 20–26 June 2026 let the city catch its breath after São João — the bunting came down, the last cascatas were swept off the Avenida, and the câmara (city council) quietly turned the festival into a science experiment. Carlos Vicens, meanwhile, opened pré-época (pre-season) at the Cidade Desportiva with four new faces rather than one, the Universidade do Minho (University of Minho) put a Braga-made material to work pulling pharmaceuticals out of tap water, and fresh INE numbers confirmed what locals suspect every time the rent ticks up: the Cávado is one of the most developed corners of the country.

São João Bows Out — and Braga Audits Its Carbon Footprint for the First Time

The Festas de São João de Braga (St John's Festivities) closed on the feriado municipal (municipal public holiday) on Wednesday 24 June, signing off with the Cortejo Sanjoanino (St John's Parade) that organisers like to call the only one of its kind in the country, and a closing Mass scattered with thousands of petals. The Comissão das Festas (Festivities Commission), led by Ana Daniela Pereira, declared the eight days “muito bem vividas por todos” — well lived by everyone. What set 2026 apart was happening in the background: Braga ran the first-ever carbon-footprint study of São João, a move the commission billed as “a decision without precedent.” The real stress test was São João night, when hundreds of thousands packed the centro histórico (historic centre); the câmara dropped public transport to one euro to coax revellers off the roads, with AGERE (the municipal water and waste utility) fielding extra clean-up crews. Organisers concede the final numbers will hinge on how seriously people took the green nudges.

SC Braga: Vicens Opens Pré-Época With Four New Faces

Carlos Vicens took his first training session as head coach on Monday 22 June at the Cidade Desportiva (training complex), opening the day with medical exams and functional tests for a group of 26 players before the first field session. A week ago the transfer board carried a single name; this week the club presented four reinforcements: goalkeeper Bernardo Fontes (from Tondela), defender Diogo Travassos (from Moreirense, via Sporting CP), midfielder Denis Huseinbasic (from FC Köln) and Brazilian forward Gabriel Silva (signed from Santa Clara on a deal running to 2031). The published pré-época calendar still points the squad toward an English training camp at St George’s Park from 4 to 10 July, with the public apresentação aos sócios (presentation to members) against Celta de Vigo at the Estádio Municipal (Municipal Stadium) on 18 July, before Vicens’s competitive debut in the UEFA Conference League late in the month. Six weeks from first whistle to first European tie — and the squad is only half-rebuilt.

UMinho Finds a Material That Strips 83% of a Drug From Tap Water

Researchers at the Escola de Ciências da Universidade do Minho (UMinho School of Sciences) published a study in Scientific Reports, a Nature-group journal, on 25 June showing that a common, cheap material can scrub pharmaceutical residue out of drinking water. The team tested five light-activated semiconductor catalysts — titanium dioxide plus oxides of zinc, cerium, bismuth and tungsten — against chloroquine phosphate, an anti-malarial also used for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis that increasingly turns up in waterways. Titanium dioxide removed up to 83% of the drug from drinking water via photocatalysis, and 46% from synthetic seawater. First author Fangyuan Zheng and researcher Pedro M. Martins (of the Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology and the Institute for Bio-Sustainability) note the work’s real edge: instead of pristine lab-grade water, they ran the tests in actual drinking water and seawater, proving that what’s dissolved around the drug changes how well it can be removed.

The Cávado Ranks Among Portugal’s Most Developed Regions

New figures from INE (the National Statistics Institute) put hard numbers behind Braga’s momentum. The 2024 edition of the Índice Sintético de Desenvolvimento Regional (Synthetic Index of Regional Development) ranks the Cávado — the intermunicipal community grouping Braga, Barcelos, Esposende, Amares, Vila Verde and Terras de Bouro — as the most cohesive sub-region in the North and the third most cohesive in Portugal, with a cohesion index of 104.25 against a national benchmark of 100. It also lands as the North’s second-strongest performer overall, behind only the Área Metropolitana do Porto (Porto Metropolitan Area), and among the ten most competitive sub-regions nationwide. For the steady stream of internationals weighing Braga against Lisbon or Porto, the index is a useful tell — and a reminder of why local rents and house prices have been climbing.

Also This Week

The weather flipped hard: after a week of heat, the IPMA (the Portuguese weather and sea authority) placed Braga and Viana do Castelo under a yellow warning for thunderstorms on the 24th, even as some 30 interior concelhos (municipalities) across the North and Centre stayed at maximum wildfire risk. On the policing front, the PSP detained three suspected drug traffickers in the city on the 25th, and the GNR seized weapons and ammunition in a domestic-violence case on the 24th. And there was tragedy on the roads: a 50-year-old man died after being struck by a lorry on the A11 motorway near Braga on the 22nd.

Weekend Pick: Bom Jesus After the Crowds

With São João packed away, this is the calm weekend to head up to Bom Jesus do Monte, the UNESCO-listed sanctuary on the hill east of the city. Ride the funicular — in service since 1882 and still the oldest water-balance funicular in the world — or climb the baroque Escadório dos Cinco Sentidos (Stairway of the Five Senses) on foot, then settle into the gardens above town while the summer crowds are still thin.

On the Radar Next Week

Vicens keeps assembling his squad before the St George’s Park camp opens on 4 July; the UMinho special-admissions window closes on 3 July, the last milestone before the national concurso (national university-entry round) opens on 20 July; and watch for the câmara to publish early readings from the São João carbon-footprint study. Até para a semana, Braga.