City of OPorto

 Oporto is the second largest town in the country.

 Looking on to the river Douro this is one of the oldest cities of Europe. Its remarkable bridges - one of them built by Gustave Eiffel - have been the inspiration of innumerable artists.

 On the left side of Douro, just in front of Oporto at Vila Nova de Gaia, it is worth to pay a visit to the wine cellars where the famous Port wine is elaborated and ripened and where it is possible to taste its different varieties as many important travellers have done since two centuries ago. A cruise trip on the river is another interesting possibility.

 The genuine city can be seen in the quarter of Ribeira, on the riverside.

Narrow and winding streets, shady arches, typical houses with coloured front   preserve the charme and contrast of sites marked by history and have been recently restored to include fancy restaurants and bars now.

 Mercadores Street leads you to the Cathedral square, where you can discover monuments such as the Renaissance style Church of Santa Clara, or to the typical Barredo quarter which still looks like in medieval times.

 Oporto offers you many other interesting monuments and museums, as well as a cultural agenda filled with more and more important events. Having a very peculiar and appreciated gastronomy and a friendly population towards foreigners it can be the starting point for the unforgettable experience of going up the river Douro. 

 Oporto is as well a surprising city if you just want to walk around and discover it by yourself. Along with hospitality and the conservation of tradition it is a place where creative contemporary art is here and there in architecture, museums or leisure spots, having become a meeting point of tradition and modernity.

 Having been classified by Unesco as a World Heritage Site, its medieval burg includes the area limited by the XIV century Muralha Fernandina (parts of which can still be seen nowadays) as well as the most typical squares and streets of the “Baixa”. This classification includes Luiz I Bridge, projected by Théophile Seyrig, a disciple of Eiffel. Its upper tray is now being used by the Metro (Oporto’s underground).

 A proof of the historical link that ever existed between the two edges of the Douro is the inclusion of the building of Convento da Serra do Pilar at Vila Nova de Gaia, partially occupied by an artillery regiment, in the perimeter of the classified area. Besides there is a protection area, which reaches the limits of the medieval city in the two sides of the river and that has been officially defined   including the old villages of Miragaia, Fontaínhas and Guindais in Oporto, as well as the Port wine cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia.

 The cultural life of Oporto is far from being reduced to its historical and monumental buildings or institutions: Teatro São João, Casa de Serralves, the Romantic Museum, or Casa da Música, for example, with their permanent shows and exhibitions, are among the places that constantly propose cultural events to locals and visitors.