Baixa - Downtown Porto under construction and still amazing

 Baixa

Much of downtown Porto’s view is one of the juxtaposition of old and new. The first settlements of Porto were over 100K years ago! Through the Romans, Moors, Crusades, monarchy and more Porto has a unique history of Roman, Gothic, Baroque and Twenty-first century architecture, culture and food all within a few kilometers. 

I started by a stroll down the Avenida dos Aliados. The area is a major construction site now from the City Hall) down cobblestone streets along the Praça da Liberdade (municipal granite buildings) with dotted shops and coffee houses, plus the street vendors/musicians.

Dancing the Rumba

Wall Art

Typical downtown street

São Bento

The metro system in Porto is very modern and efficient. The crown jewel is São Bento train station with over 20,000 painted tiles and trains liking Porto to all major cities in Portugal. Between São Bento and Trindade stations you can connect to anywhere in Porto and the surrounding areas.

Churches, churches and more churches…

I honestly didn’t think any city had more churches than Boston (there is literally one on every corner), but if Boston had one on every corner then Porto has it beat by a mile. There must be at least two on every street in Baixa. Here is only a few. In another post I'll talk about Cathdral Se.

Igreja dos Congregados

Igreja do Carmo 

In another post I'll talk about the Cathedral. 

Igreja e Torre dos Clérigos church and (over six floors), the tower was built by clerics to help the poor clergy. Forty-nine bells play everyday at 12 noon and 6pm and is connected by two atomic clocks in England and Germany.

Near the church and tower is a lovely garden, Jardim da Cordoaria. 

Although is has beautiful flowers and green areas, what I loved most was the unique statues that outlined the garden area.

Natural History Museum

Photography Museum

And…the natural history and photography museums, both are part of Porto University.

Bolhão 

Bolhão is one of the up-and-coming areas of downtown. I’ve met a few couples from the US since I’ve been here and both now live in this area. It is filled with different shops; butcher on the corner, next to the fruit stand and across from the home goods store, kind of thing. The area boasts the newest Mercado (market). 

The famous (at least that is what I'm told) Majestic Café is very nice, but really expensive so I didn’t go in to order anything. I did think this was a nice photo though.

A few blocks away is the Teatro Rivoli, one of the many theaters in Porto. I'm debating on going to see a Portuguese play.

One of the best views is from the top of Dom Luis bridge looking back at Porto, known as the Miradouro da Vitória.

There is so much more to this area and I’m finding new places all the time so I may be updating the post as I explore more of this amazing place called Porto.

I'm really behind on posts. Some of the up coming posts will be on Ribeira, Braga, Guimarães and Parque da Cidade, plus many, many more.

In other news…

I put in my last post my credit card number was “swiped” so I had to get a new card. It finally came, thanks Lisa for helping expedite the card, so I’ve booked a weekend getaway to Valencia, Spain Nov 11 - 14.