PORTO, PORTUGAL

Porto [Oporto] is located a few hours north of Lisbon on the western coast. It is Portugal's second-largest city and is also home to Port wine and cork production  It is a hilly city, which gave us quite a workout when walking from our apartment rental to the Douro riverfront, and is full of many unique places. From the baroque to the neoclassical, romanesque, medieval, beaux-arts, modern, etc... designs, exploring the city is a fun adventure.

The riverfront and downtown

The riverfront, known as the Ribeiria, is filled with restaurants, shops, and boats [barcos rabbles]. There was a lot of activity along the water and it was a great place to view all of the wine tasting facilities across the river. The hilly streets leading down to the riverfront are filled with Baroque/Rococo facades. As we walked along the riverfront we decided to take a riverboat tour of the many bridges along the river. There are 6 bridges in the area and they unite Porto and Gaia [the area across from the Ribeiria]. The tour was a nice way to see the Douro and it gave us a different perspective of the hilly city and the buildings that cascade down to the water.

the Ribeiria

Ponte Luis I and Monastery of Serra do Pilar, Gaia
During the day people jump off the bridge into the river

From Gaia with Ribeiria in the background

From Gaia with Ribeiria in the background

Ponte Luis I bridge

On the boat tour

The city center is a hike! Streets and alleyways twist and turn and bring you up, down and around. The locals sit and chat on their stoops while kids play in the narrow streets. Apartments have clothing lines strung out of their windows and restaurants can be found tucked into the crevasses. Our cab driver from the airport had a hard time figuring out where our rental was. At the time I had my GPS, so we got out thinking it would be a quick walk.  If the surface was flat it would have taken about 5 minutes, but with all of the hills and stairs, it took a bit longer [sorry mom and dad!]. Side note: Our cab driver on the way back to the airport was such a crazy driver that he tried to drive down a set of stair on a pedestrian only road with scaffolding [yikes]. Luckily, he was able to throw it in reverse and continue on.

The best way to explore the city is to get lost in it. We managed to stumble upon churches, bridges, government buildings, museums, stations, etc... and I don't think we took many of the same streets twice. Don't forget to take notice of the beautiful Azulejo [decorated tiles] as they are considered some of the most impressive in the country. 

St. Francis Church - exemplifies Rococo and Late Baroque  - Gothic Rose window

Church of Our Lady Grace - Aulejo

Aulejo

 Torre dos Clérigos

The Clérigos Church - Baroque

Beautiful tile inside of the train station

Porto Cathedral in the distance

the statue of Prince Henry the Navigator

Porto Cathedral"The original building was constructed in the Gothic style of architecture but, over the years, it has gone through a series of renovations resulting in a variety of architectural characteristics today, which includes Romanesque, Baroque and Neoclassical." [site]

Porto Cathedral

There are also 2 different feels to the downtown. There is the old town, full of historic and beautiful buildings made with tile [even the ones falling apart] and the more updated area of Avenida Dos Aliados, where many of the government buildings and banks are located. This was reconstructed by Alvaro Siza Viera in 2006

Avenida dos Aliados

Avenida dos Aliados

Avenida dos AliadosThe Town Hall

Sadly, some of the beautiful buildings throughout the city are left to crumple and stand dilapidated. From what I have read, many locals have left the city center for the suburbs and the coast. It is, however, being slowly rebuilt and many designers and architects are starting to show a presence in the area [Rem Koolhaas, Alvaro Siza Vieira]. I read that currently it is estimated that "1/5th of the old towns building have been abandoned".

Some sights in the old town area:
- Pacos do Concelho [Town hall]
- Wall of the Ribeira shelters
- Dom Fernando Wall
- The market
- Igneja de S. Francisco
- The Cathedral and Pelourinho
- The riverfront
- Stock Exchange Palace
- Lello bookshop [go inside, unfortunately we didn't]
- Igreja de S. Lourenco
- The railway station [for the tile!]
- Igreja dos Congregados [Church Congregados]
- Ride line 1 trolly to Foz

Some sights I would like to see if I return:
- Casa da Musica
- Museu de Arte Contemporânea

Pretty much, get a map and see/explore everywhere!

*for all of you Harry Potter fans - Porto was where J.K. Rowling was living and working when she started writing her first book.

Lello bookshop

Wine tasting

We decided to visit the wineries in Gaia. We crossed the upper level of the Ponte Luis I and after some exploration we made our way down the funicular [I would recommend the ride]. Once at the bottom we made our way through the streets to the Cave wineries. We stopped at several places and were able to try and buy many different kinds! FYI, It is much cheaper and easier to ship to Italia than the US! The tastings included Twany, Rose, Ruby, vintage, and several reserves [for some extra info].  

We visited:

- Offley
- Sandeman
- Ramos Pinto
- Quevedo

Ride down the funicular

Foz

Foz is a beautiful area in Porto and the perfect spot for a drink or dinner. It is along the coast and lined with beach bars, restaurants and hotels. It seemed to be a well kept up area and probably where many of the younger people are moving to. The beaches are sandy but there are a lot of rocks in the water, so swimming is not recommended. We took trolley car 1, which is a bit slower than the bus, but worth the trip. They also had Somersby Cider by the beach, which I love!

Aguda

Aguda is a small fishermen village south of Porto. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful and clean beaches of the Porto area so we decided to hop on a train and head to there. Unfortunately the end of April is still early for the Portuguese beach goers, so there were no umbrellas or chairs to be rented, but the beach and town were a nice trip. 

*side note: If you are looking for a great place to stay in a great location check out Urban Apartment Casa da Portela. It was a fantastic apartment. The owner was great and the apartment was amazingly clean. They even had some Port wine waiting for us!

View from the apartment