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Northern
Portugal Index
Porto, Portugal
Page 4
Continued from page 3

ABOVE: A man admires historic houses from the
foyer of the state-of-the-art Casa da Música.
Museums and culture
Porto isn't a museum city on the scale of Lisbon or Paris, but
after you've exhausted its churches and other landmarks, you'll find a decent
assortment of museums and galleries. For example:
The Museu Nacional Soares
dos Reis, named after a famous Portuguese sculptor, has collections of art,
decorative arts, and historical exhibits in an 18th Century royal palace.
The Museu de Etnografia e História,
located in yet another palace from the 1700s, covers the history and customs of
Porto and the Douro Valley. Exhibits range from country costumes to boat models
to 19th Century birthing chairs.
The Museu Romântico
features a collection of decorative arts in an historic mansion with a garden
and river views. On the ground floor, the Solar do Vinho do Porto tasting
bar (operated by the Port Wine Institute) serves more than 150 varieties of
port.
The
Museo do Carro Eléctrico, or
Electric Tram Museum, is a worthy destination for transportation aficionados.
Exhibits, which are housed in an old electric power station, include the first
electric streetcar on the Iberian peninsula and a horse-drawn car from 1872.
Also look for the #18
vintage tram line, which stops near the museum.
The
Porto Wine Museum is a good introduction to the city and region's wine
industry; you'll also want to visit at least one port
wine lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the river from downtown Porto.
If
you're a fan of vinho verde, Northern Portugal's light and refreshing
"green" table wine, take time for a tasting in the
Casa do Vinho Verde (CVRW), a small palace in the Rua da Restauração that
once belonged to a wealthy Porto businessman.
The
Casa da Música
isn't a museum--it's a cluster of concert halls and rehearsal spaces--but it's
probably the most interesting new building in Porto, with an innovative design
by OMA Rotterdam that lets the public watch orchestral and pop musicians at work. Don't let the
bland exterior fool you: The Casa da Música's brilliance is on the inside, which you
can explore on a guided tour.
If
you're into modern art, spend two or three hours at the
Fundação Serralves, which is located west
of downtown just off the Avenida da Boavista (the main avenue between the city
center and the Atlantic Ocean).
The large city-owned park contains a
contemporary art museum, an Art Deco villa with special exhibitions, and formal
gardens with modern sculptures and installations scattered about the grounds. (The restaurant on the
museum's top floor serves a nice buffet
lunch; in warm weather, you can sit on the roof terrace.)
Next page:
Events and festivals
Inset photos copyright ©
(1,2)
Porto & North of Portugal Tourism, (3) Casa de Música, (4,5) Fundação Serralves |