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Porto is a beautiful city located on the Douro River in northern Portugal. On the hills north and south of the river you can see one beautiful neighborhood after another and there are many sights in several different architectural styles everywhere.
The Praça da Liberdade square forms together with the street Avenida dos Aliados the living center of the city, where many locals and tourists enjoy strolls in beautiful surroundings. In the side streets you can see Porto’s beautiful railway station, the Bolhão market and several other exciting places.
In Porto, there are also many worth seeing churches, where you can see distinguished works of art and interiors using gilding, etc. The late Gothic Manueline style for which Portugal is so famous is, of course, possible to experience; just like several places with the famous tiles, azulejos.
You can also take many lovely walks in the region around Porto. You can drive for the country’s famous drink, port wine, or vinho verde. Both are produced around Porto, where there are also several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The nature with the Atlantic Ocean, river valleys and mountains is also popular for hiking.
Sé do Porto is Porto’s Romanesque cathedral and thereby the seat of the city’s bishop. Porto has been a bishop’s seat since the 6th century, and thus there was already a cathedral in the city then. There are descriptions of the old church from the 12th century, when the construction of the current Sé do Porto was started.
The cathedral was founded in 1110, but the church was built on for centuries, so the Romanesque building was over time supplemented with other architectural styles such as elements from the Baroque. The cathedral was built on until the 18th century, when construction was completed in 1737.
The external appearance of the cathedral was significantly altered during the Baroque period, when a new main portal was built in 1772 to replace the original Romanesque one, and the tower domes were also altered. In 1736, the Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni had also added an elegant baroque loggia to the side facade of the cathedral.
Inside, the church is very interesting, and you can see both parts of the Romanesque church and later changes through the Gothic and Baroque periods. Some of the highlights are the large altar, side chapels and the building’s Gothic cloister, where you can see fine tile mosaics that were installed in 1729-1731.
Igreja e Torre dos Clérigos is one of Porto’s many interesting churches. This church is not least known for its bell tower, which with a height of 75 meters stands as a clear profile in the city’s skyline.
The church was built 1732-1750 for the Brotherhood of the Clergy by the Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni, who was behind many contemporary constructions in 18th-century northern Portugal. However, the characteristic bell tower was not completed until 1763.
The Clérigos church was one of the first Baroque churches in Portugal with the typical elliptical base form, which characterized the style. When you enter the church room, you can see, among other things, the church’s beautiful altarpiece, which was made of multicolored marble by Manuel dos Santos Porto.
Majestic Café is an iconic place if you want to enjoy a cup of coffee in a beautiful setting in Porto. When you enter, you can immediately see why the café is something special, and it was also established as a meeting place for the city’s leading citizens.
The café opened in 1921 with exuberant art nouveau details with the best of the so-called belle époque in the interior. It was the architect José Pinto de Oliveira who designed the café based on the Parisian model.
Ponte de Dom Luís I is a bridge that stands as one of Porto’s landmarks. The bridge spans the Douro River between downtown Porto and the Vila Nova de Gaia neighborhood. One of the distinctive features of the Ponte de Dom Luís I is the staggered roadways with a lower deck of 172 meters in length and an upper deck of 395 meters in length.
Gustave Eiffel presented a proposal for a bridge over the Douro in 1879, but it was rejected because, due to growth in the city, they wanted to connect both the upper and lower parts of the city. After a design competition in 1880, a solution was found and construction quickly began. The Ponte de Dom Luís I could then already be inaugurated in 1886.
Cais da Ribeira is the name of the river promenade located in central Porto along the Douro River. It used to be an important area for the city’s trade with the many boats that plyed the area.
Today, Cais da Ribeira is one of the most lively neighborhoods in Porto with many cafes and restaurants. You can also just enjoy some nice walks here and enjoy the view over the river, over the city and to the many houses with colorful facades that are located here.
Livraria Lello is certainly one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores, and it is also one of the oldest in Portugal. It was José Lello and David Lourenço Pereira who established the business David Pereira & Lello in 1881. After changes of ownership and acquisitions, the brothers José and António Lello successfully ran their growing bookstore in the city.
The brothers hired the engineer Francisco Xavier Esteves to build a brand new bookstore on Rua das Carmelitas, and it opened in 1906 with a beautiful facade with Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau elements in front of a stunning interior with curved staircases, wooden balusters, painted plaster and other decorations that gathered creates a unique interior.
Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar is a former monastery that sits atop a hill south of the Douro River in Porto’s Vila Nova de Gaia neighborhood. The monastery is a magnificent sight, and it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other parts of the center of Porto.
The construction of the first monastery on this site was started in 1538 by the Augustinian order. The monastery was completed in 1564, but it soon proved to be too small, and the current buildings were erected from 1597 as a larger and contemporary complex.
The large facility was built during the 17th century, and its hallmark is the circular church and a monastery courtyard of the same shape and diameter. The church was consecrated in 1672 and its distinctive profile can be seen from a long distance. The church is 36 meters high, and it towers over the lower bell tower next to the church.
Palácio da Bolsa is Porto’s stock exchange palace, built in neoclassical style in the years 1842-1850 by the Chamber of Commerce, Associação Comercial do Porto. It happened after a donation of the land from the Portuguese queen to Porto’s merchants. The land had become available, as the town’s old Franciscan monastery on the site had burned down in 1832.
It was the local architect Joaquim da Costa Lima Júnior who designed the building, which was completed on the outside in 1850, but where work was done on the interior until around 1910. In the mansion there are many fine halls, where the Arab Hall/Salão Árabe is the highlight with an elegant Moorish-inspired style. In front of the mansion you can enjoy the Jardin do Infante Dom Henrique park.
Igreja de São Francisco is one of Porto’s beautiful churches. Its history started with the arrival of the Franciscan order in the city, which happened in 1223. After a few decades, the order built a monastery and a church from 1244, which was the original monastery church. The current Igreja de São Francisco was built as a larger church in the years 1383-1425.
The outside of the church is considered one of the finest Gothic buildings in Porto, and inside a beautiful baroque church room awaits. In the following centuries, chapels were built in, among other things, the late Gothic, Manueline style, and the rest of the interior is also particularly worth seeing. The Igreja de São Francisco is therefore a church with architectural history from several centuries.
In the church there is a multicolored statue of Francis of Assisi, which originates from the Franciscans’ original 13th-century church. You can also see chapels and tombstones from wealthy 15th-16th century families such as Luís Álvares de Sousa and João Carneiro. In addition to these details, it is the church’s gilded woodwork of altarpieces, ceiling and columns that is most impressive.
Praça da Liberdade or Freedom Square is the central square of Porto and it continues in famous Avenida dos Aliados. The history of the square started in 1718, when a project for the urbanization of the area began. As a result, new streets and a large square were laid out, which was then known as Praça Nova.
In 1788, a church order built a monastery on the south side of the square, where the city’s medieval wall previously stood. Today, the monastery building with its impressive facade is called Palácio das Cardosas, and the palace is the oldest existing building on Praça da Liberdade.
Throughout the 19th century, the area around Praça da Liberdade became increasingly important as the political, economic and social center of Porto. The appearance of the square was greatly changed after 1916, when the then town hall was demolished and made way for the construction of Avenida dos Aliados to the north of the square.
Today you can see a number of fine buildings around the square, where you can also see an equestrian statue of King Pedro IV in the middle of the square. The statue was created by the French sculptor Anatole Calmels, and the king is riding a horse, holding the constitution that he had fought to protect.
The Câmara Municipal do Porto is the city’s town hall, which stands beautifully as the northern fixed point on the street Avenida dos Aliados. Construction began in 1920 according to architect António Correia da Silva’s drawings, and after some interruptions in construction, the town hall was completed in 1955.
The facade is made of granite from the São Gens and Fafes quarries. The town hall is decorated with sculptures designed by José Sousa Caldas and Henrique Moreira, illustrating activities typical of Porto such as viticulture, industry and shipping.
The dominant building part of the Câmara Municipal do Porto is the 70 meter high tower that rises right in the middle of the town hall. There is a carillon in the tower, where there is also an internal staircase to the top. In front of the town hall you can see a statue of the poet Almeida Garrett, which was created by the sculptor Barata Feio.
Igreja de São Nicolau is one of Porto’s smaller churches, and it has a very beautiful altar in gilded rococo carving. The church was built at the end of the 17th century and rebuilt after a fire in 1762 in a style mixture of neoclassicism and baroque.
It was Frei Manuel de Jesus Maria who designed the reconstruction that can still be seen today. On the high facade there is a pediment with an image of a patron saint, and when you enter the church, you should notice the altar, which was designed by Frei Manuel de Jesus Monteiro.
Paço Episcopal is Porto’s bishop’s palace and at the same time a beautiful building in a mixture of late baroque and rococo, which is close to the city’s cathedral. The mansion’s original appearance emerged during the construction of the Paço Episcopal during the 12th and 13th centuries.
The house was extended in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a rebuild in the 18th century gave the mansion its current appearance.
It is believed that it was the Italian Nicolau Nasoni who designed the reconstruction and thereby the current bishop’s palace, just as he designed many contemporary buildings in and around Porto. Construction started in 1737 and lasted most of the century.
The city’s bishops used Paço Episcopal as a residence until the 19th century, after which it temporarily became the seat of some of King Pedro IV’s troops. Throughout the 20th century, the mansion also became the seat of Porto’s city government for several decades. Today, the mansion and the cathedral are almost at the top of the city, and there are several beautiful rooms and halls here.
Igreja Santa Clara is a church that was built 1416-1457 as a convent church for nuns of the Poor Clares. The nuns began using the church and the monastery buildings in 1427, and the complex was extended and rebuilt several times.
Igreja Santa Clara is a church today that is famous for a stunning interior with rich use of gilding and polychromy. The church stands as one of the best examples in Portugal of this style, and the unforgettable interior also got the church included in UNESCO’s list of world cultural heritage in 1996.
Estação ferroviária de São Bento is a beautiful station building from the beginning of the 20th century, where it was built from 1904 and opened in 1916. It happened on the site where the Benedictine monastery of São Bento da Avé Maria had stood since 1518 until its demolition in 1892 .
It was local architect José Marques da Silva who designed the railway station, which was inspired by French Beaux-Arts. Inside, you can see, among other things, Jorge Colaç’s tile paintings depicting the country’s people and history. There are approximately 20,000 tiles in total, and they were put up between 1905 and 1916.
Vale do Douro is the name of the landscapes east of the city of Porto along the river Douro, where the vineyards are beautifully located. On a trip in the area, you can see the beautiful hilly terrain, and it is here that the country’s famous port wine and other Douro wines originate. You can visit a number of wineries and taste the production. You can, for example, go to Pinhão, from where there is easy access to several farms.
Along the way in the valley, you can go to the town of Peso da Régua along the Douro River. Here you can visit the Museu do Douro, which is a regional museum that conveys the history, culture and identity of the Douro region. A few kilometers south of here is Lamego, where you can see the well-situated church, Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, which stands at the end of the famous staircase, Escadas da Nossa Sra. dos Remédios. The stairs have many inlaid sections with blue and white tiles.
Continuing east, you can see more Portuguese tiles at the Estação Ferroviária do Pinhão railway station in the town of Pinhão. The motifs of the tiles are dedicated to the cultivation of vines. If you continue in the same direction, you can see, among other things, the Castelo de Numão castle and Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa, which is an outdoor Paleolithic archaeological area with prehistoric rock art.
Braga is a city in northern Portugal and is one of the largest cities in the country. Its history dates to the Roman conquest of the region in around 136 BC. In the year 20 BC they founded the city of Bracara Augusta and made it the regional capital. In 283 the city became the capital of the province of Gallaecia, thereby increasing its importance.
Braga was taken by the Moors in 711, and in 868 the area was reconquered by Christians. Braga became an important Christian center on the Iberian Peninsula and later one of the driving forces for an independent Portugal. Later, the city’s archbishops developed Braga after first the Renaissance and then the Baroque era.
Vila Real is an inland town in the north of Portugal. The city was founded in 1289 by the Portuguese king Dom Dinis as Vila Real de Panóias. Vila Real’s privileged location on important Portuguese roads allowed continued growth in the city, and from the 17th century many noble families settled, giving the old town its current typical appearance.
Vila Real is a cozy provincial town where you can enjoy some wonderful walks in the beautiful center. You can experience a cozy atmosphere and see several sights such as the Sé de Vila Real cathedral, which was originally built as a Dominican monastery in 1424. The best-known attraction is Palácio de Mateus, which is a beautiful 18th-century mansion with a residence, chapel and a beautiful landscaped park.
Guimarães is a beautiful and interesting Portuguese city located in the Braga district. The city was founded in the 8th century, and it is considered the birthplace of Portugal for several reasons. One of them is because Guimarães was the birthplace of Afonso Henriques, who was Portugal’s first king with the name Alfonso I.
It was also in this area that the Battle of São Mamede was fought in 1128 between Afonso Henrique’s troops and his mother’s forces. Afonso won and became first prince and then king of Portugal. Throughout the Middle Ages, the city encircled by city walls grew.
Rua de Gonçalo Sampaio 350
shoppingcidadedoporto.com
Rua Sara Afonso
norteshopping.pt
Travessa Parque Nascente
parque-nascente.klepierre.pt
Rua de Santa Catarina 312-350
viacatarina.pt
Rua Santa Catarina og sidegader
Marcado do Bolhão
Zoo Santa Inácio
Rua 5 de Outubro 4503
zoosantoinacio.com
Museu do Carro Eléctrico
Alameda de Basílio Teles 51
museudocarroelectrico.pt
Jardins do Palácio de Cristal
Rúa Don Manuel II
World of Discoveries
Rua de Miragaia
worldofdiscoveries.com
Museu Futebol Clube do Porto
Via Futebol Clube do Porto
fcporto.pt
Piscina das Marés
Leça da Palmeira
Porto, Portugal[/caption]
Overview of Porto
Porto is a beautiful city located on the Douro River in northern Portugal. On the hills north and south of the river you can see one beautiful neighborhood after another and there are many sights in several different architectural styles everywhere.
The Praça da Liberdade square forms together with the street Avenida dos Aliados the living center of the city, where many locals and tourists enjoy strolls in beautiful surroundings. In the side streets you can see Porto’s beautiful railway station, the Bolhão market and several other exciting places.
In Porto, there are also many worth seeing churches, where you can see distinguished works of art and interiors using gilding, etc. The late Gothic Manueline style for which Portugal is so famous is, of course, possible to experience; just like several places with the famous tiles, azulejos.
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Palácio da Bolsa is Porto’s stock exchange palace, built in neoclassical style in the years 1842-1850 by the Chamber of Commerce, Associação Comercial do Porto. It happened after a donation of the land from the Portuguese queen to Porto’s merchants. The land had become available, as the town’s old Franciscan monastery on the site had burned down in 1832.
It was the local architect Joaquim da Costa Lima Júnior who designed the building, which was completed on the outside in 1850, but where work was done on the interior until around 1910. In the mansion there are many fine halls, where the Arab Hall/Salão Árabe is the highlight with an elegant Moorish-inspired style. In front of the mansion you can enjoy the Jardin do Infante Dom Henrique park.
Igreja de São Francisco is one of Porto’s beautiful churches. Its history started with the arrival of the Franciscan order in the city, which happened in 1223. After a few decades, the order built a monastery and a church from 1244, which was the original monastery church. The current Igreja de São Francisco was built as a larger church in the years 1383-1425.
The outside of the church is considered one of the finest Gothic buildings in Porto, and inside a beautiful baroque church room awaits. In the following centuries, chapels were built in, among other things, the late Gothic, Manueline style, and the rest of the interior is also particularly worth seeing. The Igreja de São Francisco is therefore a church with architectural history from several centuries.
In the church there is a multicolored statue of Francis of Assisi, which originates from the Franciscans’ original 13th-century church. You can also see chapels and tombstones from wealthy 15th-16th century families such as Luís Álvares de Sousa and João Carneiro. In addition to these details, it is the church’s gilded woodwork of altarpieces, ceiling and columns that is most impressive.
Praça da Liberdade or Freedom Square is the central square of Porto and it continues in famous Avenida dos Aliados. The history of the square started in 1718, when a project for the urbanization of the area began. As a result, new streets and a large square were laid out, which was then known as Praça Nova.
In 1788, a church order built a monastery on the south side of the square, where the city’s medieval wall previously stood. Today, the monastery building with its impressive facade is called Palácio das Cardosas, and the palace is the oldest existing building on Praça da Liberdade.
Throughout the 19th century, the area around Praça da Liberdade became increasingly important as the political, economic and social center of Porto. The appearance of the square was greatly changed after 1916, when the then town hall was demolished and made way for the construction of Avenida dos Aliados to the north of the square.
Today you can see a number of fine buildings around the square, where you can also see an equestrian statue of King Pedro IV in the middle of the square. The statue was created by the French sculptor Anatole Calmels, and the king is riding a horse, holding the constitution that he had fought to protect.
The Câmara Municipal do Porto is the city’s town hall, which stands beautifully as the northern fixed point on the street Avenida dos Aliados. Construction began in 1920 according to architect António Correia da Silva’s drawings, and after some interruptions in construction, the town hall was completed in 1955.
The facade is made of granite from the São Gens and Fafes quarries. The town hall is decorated with sculptures designed by José Sousa Caldas and Henrique Moreira, illustrating activities typical of Porto such as viticulture, industry and shipping.
The dominant building part of the Câmara Municipal do Porto is the 70 meter high tower that rises right in the middle of the town hall. There is a carillon in the tower, where there is also an internal staircase to the top. In front of the town hall you can see a statue of the poet Almeida Garrett, which was created by the sculptor Barata Feio.
Igreja de São Nicolau is one of Porto’s smaller churches, and it has a very beautiful altar in gilded rococo carving. The church was built at the end of the 17th century and rebuilt after a fire in 1762 in a style mixture of neoclassicism and baroque.
It was Frei Manuel de Jesus Maria who designed the reconstruction that can still be seen today. On the high facade there is a pediment with an image of a patron saint, and when you enter the church, you should notice the altar, which was designed by Frei Manuel de Jesus Monteiro.
Paço Episcopal is Porto’s bishop’s palace and at the same time a beautiful building in a mixture of late baroque and rococo, which is close to the city’s cathedral. The mansion’s original appearance emerged during the construction of the Paço Episcopal during the 12th and 13th centuries.
The house was extended in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a rebuild in the 18th century gave the mansion its current appearance.
It is believed that it was the Italian Nicolau Nasoni who designed the reconstruction and thereby the current bishop’s palace, just as he designed many contemporary buildings in and around Porto. Construction started in 1737 and lasted most of the century.
The city’s bishops used Paço Episcopal as a residence until the 19th century, after which it temporarily became the seat of some of King Pedro IV’s troops. Throughout the 20th century, the mansion also became the seat of Porto’s city government for several decades. Today, the mansion and the cathedral are almost at the top of the city, and there are several beautiful rooms and halls here.
Igreja Santa Clara is a church that was built 1416-1457 as a convent church for nuns of the Poor Clares. The nuns began using the church and the monastery buildings in 1427, and the complex was extended and rebuilt several times.
Igreja Santa Clara is a church today that is famous for a stunning interior with rich use of gilding and polychromy. The church stands as one of the best examples in Portugal of this style, and the unforgettable interior also got the church included in UNESCO’s list of world cultural heritage in 1996.
Estação ferroviária de São Bento is a beautiful station building from the beginning of the 20th century, where it was built from 1904 and opened in 1916. It happened on the site where the Benedictine monastery of São Bento da Avé Maria had stood since 1518 until its demolition in 1892 .
It was local architect José Marques da Silva who designed the railway station, which was inspired by French Beaux-Arts. Inside, you can see, among other things, Jorge Colaç’s tile paintings depicting the country’s people and history. There are approximately 20,000 tiles in total, and they were put up between 1905 and 1916.
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