Sights in The North
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Ponte de Dom Luís I
Completed in 1886 by a student of Gustave Eiffel, the double-decker bridge's top deck is now reserved for pedestrians as well as one of the city's metro lines; the lower deck bears regular traffic. Both afford wonderful views.
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Ramos Pinto
Right on the riverfront you can visit the rather grand Ramos Pinto, including a look at its historic offices and ageing cellars.
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Vila Nova de Gaia
While technically its own municipality, Vila Nova de Gaia ('Gaia') sits just across the Douro from Porto and is woven into the city's fabric both by a series of stunning bridges as well as its shared history of port-wine making. Since the mid-18th century, port-wine bottlers and exporters have been obliged to maintain their 'lodges' - basically dressed-up warehouses - here.
Today some 60 of them clamber up the steep riverbank, and at night the entire scene turns into Portugal's version of Las Vegas, with huge neon signs clamouring for the attention of winos and oenophiles alike. This enclave of historic terracotta-topped warehouses is now Porto's best-known attraction, de…
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Palácio da Bolsa
Next door to the church you’ll see another temple – this one dedicated unabashedly to Mammon. The Palácio da Bolsa is a splendid neoclassical monument (built from 1842 to 1910) honouring Porto’s past and present money merchants. Just past the entrance hall is the glass-domed Pátio das Nações (Hall of Nations), where the exchange once operated. But this pales in comparison with rooms deeper inside, and to visit these you must join one of the €5 guided tours, which set off every 30 minutes and last for 30 minutes. You can usually join any group; tours are given in any two of Portuguese, English and French. The highlight is a stupendous ballroom called the Salão …
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Museu de Arte Contemporânea
In a leafy, upscale suburb off the grand Avenida Boavista, is Porto's other great work of contemporary architecture. Designed by eminent, Porto-based architect Álvaro Siza Vieira, the Museu de Arte Contemporânea is an arrestingly minimalist construction of vast, whitewashed spaces bathed in natural light.
Most of the museum is devoted to cutting edge exhibitions, though there's also a fine permanent collection featuring works from the late 1960s to the present by the likes of Georg Baselitz, Ed Ruscha and Gerhard Richter. Nearby is Casa de Serralves, a pink 1930s Art Deco mansion that served as the original museum and is now an exhibition space. Surrounding it all is th…
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Monte de Santa Luzia
There are two good reasons to visit Viana's 228m, eucalyptus-clad hill, Monte de Santa Luzia. One is the god's-eye view down the coast and up the Lima valley. The other is the Templo do Sagrado Coração de Jesus.
There's an over-the-top Pousada de Portugal (Pousada do Monte de Santa Luzia) up here, too, behind and above the basilica. Behind that is another attraction, the poorly maintained ruins of a Celtiberian citânia from around the 4th century BC, though these remained closed for redevelopment at the time of writing. You can also make the short walk onwards to the summit.
You can get up the mountain by car or taxi (3.5km) or on foot - an often steep, 2km climb only f…
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Afurada
Technically part of Gaia, Afurada is a picturesque fishing village near the mouth of the Douro where many older residents still cling to traditional ways - men fishing and women washing their laundry at communal fonts. Houses are decked with azulejos and cafés are redolent with hearty caldeirada (seafood stew). For the most scenic route, take a tram from the Ribeira to the Fluvial I stop just west of the Ponte da Arrábida. From here, catch a small ferry across the river to the village.
Hours are not fixed, but if the ferry is not operating, fishing vessels regularly make the crossing and will generally accommodate, so just ask around. Alternately, buses 93 and 96 from C…
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Praça da República
The fine Praça da República is at the heart of the city's well-preserved zone of mansions and monuments. Especially elegant is the praça's Chafariz, a Renaissance fountain built in 1554 by João Lopes the Elder. It's topped with Manueline motifs of an armillary sphere and the cross of the Order of Christ.
The fortresslike Antigos Paços do Concelho is the old town hall - another 16th-century creation. The striking former Misericórdia almshouse was designed in 1589 by João Lopes the Younger, its loggias supported by monster caryatids. The adjoining Igreja de Misericórdia was rebuilt in 1714 and is adorned with some of Portugal's finest azulejos by the master António …
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Museu Nacional Soares Dos Reis
A short walk west of Cordoaria lands you at Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis. The town’s most comprehensive art collection, it ranges from Neolithic carvings to Portugal’s take on modernism and is housed in the formidable Palácio das Carrancas. Requisitioned by Napoleonic invaders, the neoclassical palace was abandoned so rapidly that the future Duke of Wellington found an unfinished banquet in the dining hall. Transformed into a museum of fine and decorative arts in 1940, its best works date from the 19th century, including sculpture by António Soares dos Reis (see especially his famous O Desterrado, The Exile) and António Teixeira Lopes, and the naturalistic paintin…
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Cathedral
Braga’s extraordinary cathedral is the oldest in Portugal, begun when the archdiocese was restored in 1070 (probably on the ruins of a mosque) and completed in the following century. It’s a rambling complex made up of differing styles, and architectural buffs could spend half a day happily distinguishing the Romanesque bones from Manueline musculature and baroque frippery. The original Romanesque style is the most interesting and survives in the cathedral’s overall shape, the southern entrance and the marvellous west portal, which is carved with scenes from the medieval legend of Reynard the Fox (now sheltered inside a Gothic porch).
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Archaeological Museum
The new archaeological museum houses a nicely displayed collection of fragments from Braga’s earliest days. The four rooms feature pieces from Palaeolithic times (arrowheads, funerary objects and ceramics) through the days of Roman rule (when Braga was known as Bracara Augusta) and on up to the period dominated by the Suevi-Visigoth kingdom (5th through 7th centuries). The most fascinating pieces are the huge miliários (milestones), carved with Latin inscriptions, that marked the Roman roads. There is also a section of mosaic flooring recovered from a local site, which dates from the 1st century AD.
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Casa Do Infante
Just back from the river is the handsomely renovated Casa do Infante. It’s claimed Henry the Navigator was born here in 1394, and the building later served as Porto’s first customs house. Today it houses three floors of exhibits on the complex activities of the customs house throughout the centuries; there’s also a model of Porto from its medieval days. In 2002 the complex was excavated, revealing Roman foundations as well as some remarkable mosaics – all of which are now on display.
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Praia do Cabedelo
Viana's enormous arcing beach, Praia do Cabedelo, is one of the Minho's best, with little development to spoil its charm. It's across the river from town, and one way to get there is a five-minute trip by passenger ferry from the pier south of Largo 5 de Outubro. The ferry goes about hourly between 08:15 and 19:30 daily from May to September, and often later in July and August. Alternatively, TransCunha have multiple daily buses to Cabedelo from the bus station.
Check at the station or turismo for current schedules.
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Municipal Museum
An 18th-century aristocrat’s palace is now home to the enthusiastic municipal museum, with a nice collection of Roman relics and 17th- to 19th-century pottery and furnishings. The palace itself is the reason to come, with its polychrome, chestnut-panelled ceilings and 18th-century azulejos depicting hunting scenes. The ground floor is paved with deeply ribbed flagstones on which carriages would have once rattled through to the stables. The mazelike gardens at the rear also warrant a visit.
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Ship
Demanding attention on the waterfront near Largo 5 de Outubro is a pioneering naval hospital ship, the Gil Eannes (zheel yan -ish). Now restored, the ship once provided on-the-job care for those fishing off the coast of Newfoundland. Visitors can clamber around the steep decks and cabins, though a scattering of old clinical equipment may make your hair stand on end. The ship even houses a novel – if cramped – youth hostel.
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Sé
From Praça da Ribeira rises a tangle of medieval alleys and stairways that eventually reach the hulking, hilltop fortress of the sé. Founded in the 12th century, this cathedral was largely rebuilt a century later and then extensively altered in the 18th century. However, you can still make out the church’s Romanesque contours. Inside, a rose window and a 14th-century Gothic cloister remain from its early days.
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São Bento Train Station
Just off the Aliados lies São Bento Train Station. Designed by José Marques da Silva and completed in 1903, it seems to have been imported straight from 19th century Paris, thanks to its mansard roof and imposing stone facade. But the dramatic azulejos in the front hall are an entirely Portuguese creation. Completed by Jorge Colaço in 1930, they depict both historic battles scenes as well as a history of transport.
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Museu Municipal
The 18th-century Palacete Barbosa Maciel, home of the museu municipal, bears witness to Viana’s affluent past. It houses an impressive collection of 17th- and 18th-century ceramics (especially blue Portuguese china) and furniture. Most impressive are three 2nd-floor rooms lined with azulejos, depicting scenes of hunting, palace life and the anthropomorphic allegory of the four continents.
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Templo Do Sagrado Coração de Jesus
A good reason to visit Viana’s 228m, eucalyptus-clad hill is the fabulously over-the-top, 20th-century, neo-Byzantine Templo do Sagrado Coração de Jesus. You can get a little closer to heaven on its windy, graffiti-covered roof, via an elbow-scrapingly tight stairway (€0.50) – take the entrance marked zimbório (dome) – or the lift (€0.80).
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Igreja da Misericórdia
North of the square on the distinctly Parisian Rua das Flores, you’ll find the rococo facade of the Igreja da Misericórdia, designed by the Italian baroque architect Nicolau Nasoni. Now a museum, the church shelters the superb Renaissance painting known as Fons Vitae (Fountain of Life), showing Dom Manuel I and his family around a fountain of blood from the crucified Christ.
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Avenida dos Aliados
With bulging, Beaux Arts facades and capped by the Câmara Municipal (City Hall), the short but grand Avenida dos Aliados may not be exactly Parisian, but it certainly recalls grand Parisian imitators like Buenos Aires and Budapest. Its central plaza has been recently repaved and spiffed up, and if it weren't for all the buses (this is the city's transport hub) and it would be a fine place to linger.
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Capela Das Almas
Along pedestrianised Rua Santa Catarina, the Capela das Almas is a close second to Igreja do Carmo. Magnificent panels here depict scenes from the lives of various saints, including the death of St Francis and the martyrdom of St Catherine. Interestingly, Eduardo Leite painted the tiles in a classic 18th-century style, though they actually date back only to the early 20th century.
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Museu Romântico
Nestled on the garden’s south slopes is the Quinta da Macieirinha, the small but stately home where the exiled king of Sardinia spent his final days holed up in 1843. The upstairs has been turned into the modest Museu Romântico, featuring the king’s belongings and dainty period furnishings. Downstairs is the wonderful Solar do Vinho do Porto.
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Parque de Serralves
The marvellous, 18-hectare Parque de Serralves is host to the Museum of Contemporary Art. From lily ponds and formal fountains to a blood-red sculpture of intriguingly oversized pruning sheers, these gardens are well worth a visit in their own right. The estate and museum are 4km west of the city centre; take bus 78 from Praça da Liberdade or bus 21 from the Casa da Música metro stop.
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Antigo Paço Episcopal
Facing the cathedral is the severe Antigo Paço Episcopal. Begun in the 14th century and enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries, it’s now home to university offices and the municipal library. A heavily carved, painted and gilded ceiling looks down on the library’s computer room; this and the azulejos lining the main stairway are well worth a peek.
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