 Durant
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Porto (Oporto)Travel and Tourist Information
ABOVE: Port wine is aged and shipped from lodges on the left bank of the Douro River; Porto's city center is on the right bank.
Next page: Porto's lifeblood: Port wine
Lower inset photo copyright © Casa da Música. |
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Porto--or,
to use the traditional English spelling, Oporto--is the second-largest city in
Portugal. Porto is also the gateway to the Douro Valley, Trás-os-Montes,
and the Minho, but don't head for the provinces too quickly: Porto and its
winemaking suburb of Vila Nova de Gaia are easily worth a few days of
sightseeing.
The
city has been a trading center for nearly 3,000 years, and its
name--Porto--comes from Portus, the name of a Roman settlement on the
banks of the Douro River. Just as important, Porto and its region gave birth to
the county of Portucale, which in turn became the Kingdom of Portugal after
Alfonso Henriques beat back the Moors and declared himself king in 1139. 
Today,
Porto is a thriving financial center, winemaking city, and cruise port of
260,000 in a metropolitan area of two million people. It was named a "European
Capital of Culture" in 2001, and in the last few years the city has been
revitalized with a new Metro, a new airport, a new bridge across the Douro, the
remarkable Casa da Música concert hall, and other
major projects.
Whether you're looking for history, atmosphere, contemporary
museums, port wine, or Northern Portuguese gastronomy at prices that are low by
Western European standards, you're likely to have a good time in Porto--a city
of granite hills where the Douro River meets the Atlantic Ocean.