Tourist Attractions in Oporto

Linked to the Igreja dos Clérigos is the Torre dos Clérigos, 75m/245ft high and built in 1755-63 at the expense of the Oporto clergy. It has come to be the symbol of Oporto and there is a panoramic view from the top over the city and the Douro Valley to the Atlantic coast.

For another magnificent view, take the Rua de Alexandre Herculano from the southern end of the Praça da Batalha to the Alameda das Fontainhas, a lovely promenade high above the Douro.

To the south of the cathedral is the former Bishop's Palace (begun 1771), an imposing building with an elegant staircase and now occupied by civic offices.

Those seeking refreshment should visit the Cafe Majestic. This Art Nouveau style establishment has a unique atmosphere and stays open until 2am.

North and west of the Clérigos church is the broad Campo dos Mártires da Pátria. A part of it is taken up by the Praça de Lisboa, with its market stalls, while another part holds the beautiful Jardim de Joao Chagas (Jardim da Cordoaria). On the south side stands the old prison (18th C.), and at the northwest corner the Hospital de Santo António (begun 1769). On the north side of the Campo is the University (founded in 1911; previously a technical college), which also has a small Natural History Museum.

To the east of the cathedral is an 18th C. Baroque building, at 32 Rua D. Hugo, which is also ascribed to Nasoni. It was the abode of Abílio Manuel de Guerra Junqueiro (1850-1923), the poet and political activist whose verses vehemently championed the Republican cause.

Completed in 1940, the Serralves House was originally designed as a primary residence. The house and park were created in modernist style by Carlos Alberto Cabral, the second Count of Vizela. Some of the best names in art from the 1930s were involved in the architecture, landscaping, and decorating.

The estate is now also home to the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Electric Tramcar Museum explores the history of Tramcars. The first tramcars in Oporto were the horse-pulled "American Cars" which came into operation in the early 1870s. The museum's collection includes this and other types of tramcars covering over 100 years of the city's history.

Engineer António de Almeida (1891-1958) left his collection of furniture, jewellery, textiles, porcelains, paintings, clocks and coins to a foundation that he wished to be established in his own name. The most important pieces in the collection are the coins which are of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, French and Portuguese origin.

To return to the start of the city walk go west from the Praça da Batalha along Rua 31 de Janeiro to the main railroad station, Estaçao de Sao Bento. This station was built in the early 20th C., and the walls of its concourse are covered in azulejos depicting historical themes and the story of various means of transport.

The museum features a personal collection which includes religious sculptures and 20th C paintings.

Religious ceremonies, popular festival, procession with paper figures satirizing important people.

The traditional festival is celebrated every year from June 23 to June 25 with processions, fireworks and regional folk events.

Until a few years ago it was considered very doubtful whether the Casa do Infante, or its predecessor (in the Rua Alfândega Velha, below the Praça do Infante Dom Henrique) actually is the site of the house where Henry the Navigator was born. During investigations made in 1992 traces of 15th C. works were discovered together with some from the Roman era, under the foundations. Today it houses the city archives.

Oporto's main shopping street, the Rua de Santa Catarina, now partly pedestrianized, runs from the north end of the square to the Praça do Marquês de Pombal, where the church of the Immaculate Conception, built between 1939 and 1947, is a good example of more modern Portuguese church architecture.

The Igreja da Misericórdia, in the Rua das Flores, is a church built in the first half of the 18th C. by Nasoni, who was also responsible for the Clérigos church.

Just east of the Praça de Mousinho de Albuquerque is the little Romanesque Igreja de Cedofeita (12th C.), the city's oldest church whose name - cedo feita = soon finished - indicates the speed with which it was built.

Further east from the Casa Guerra Junqueiro on the other side of the road onto the Ponte de D. Luis I, is the church of Santa Clara, originally Gothic but much altered at the time of the Renaissance and with an interior full of talha dourada.

Continuing with the tour of the city, the route goes back from the Jardim do Palácio de Cristal to the Jardim de Joao Chagas and then takes a turn to the right through one of the alleys to the twin towered church of Sao Bento da Vitória. Its simple and rather shabby exterior, dating from the early 17th C., belies the magnificent furnishings and gilt carving of the interior.

To the northwest of Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, opposite the University, on the Praça de Gomes Teixeira, are two adjoining churches. To the right is the Igreja do Carmo (1756), its east end covered with 19th C. blue azulejos, and to the left the Igreja das Carmelitas (1619 28), both of them containing richly gilded altars.

From the southwest corner of the Praça da Liberdade in Oporto the busy Rua dos Clérigos runs up to the Igreja dos Clérigos, built by the Italian architect Nicoló Nasoni in 1732-48, a Baroque church with an oval interior.

Opposite the Estaçao de Sao Bento stands the Igreja dos Congregados, built around 1700 and flanked by shops and flats, with azulejos over much of its facade. It is just a few hundred yards from here to the Praça da Liberdade, thus completing this walk round the city.

The terrace on the west facade of the Cathedral faces the Igreja dos Grilos which was built in 1614 by Baltazar Alvarés as a Jesuit seminary church. It derives its name from the barefoot Augustinian monks to whom the church passed in 1780. Because of their brown habits they were known as grillos (crickets).

A little way southwest of the Soares dos Reis Museum is the flower filled Jardim do Palácio de Cristal, the setting for the Pavilhao dos Desportos, the sports arena, with seating for 10,000 spectators and also a venue for concerts, exhibitions, etc., which in 1952 replaced the former "Crystal Palace". From the south side of the park, where a chapel commemorating King Charles Albert of Sardinia was built in 1851, there is a superb view over the city, the river and the sea.

The museum contains the collections of Marta Ortigão, which were donated to the City or Porto. The main attractions are the painting and jewelry collections. The Jewelry consists of 18th to 20th C pieces. The paintings include the works of Silva Porto, Marques de Oliveira, Sousa Pinto, Artur Loureiro, Aurélia de Sousa, and Sofia de Sousa.

The Military Museum, which began in 1920 with an exhibition on the Liberal Revolution of 1820, today houses a collection of light weapons, equipment, uniforms and heavy artillery from the 16th to 20th C. Of particular interest is the collection of miniature soldiers which portrays the history of warfare.

A visit to the Museum of Modern Art, on the western edge of the city, is also best left out of a first day's exploration of Oporto. The museum is on the grounds of the impressive Casa de Serralves, situated in its own large park, and puts on temporary exhibitions from various sectors of the arts.

The National Press Museum is a live museum with working equipment. Three separate sections concentrate on pre-printing, printing and final touches. The Galeria de Exposições Temáticas (Thematic Exhibitions Gallery) presents displays on the social, educational and cultural significance of the press and graphical arts.

The Natural History Museum features three main sections, the Mineralogy Hall, Palaeontology Hall and Archaeology and Pre-History Hall.

The Numismatics Room at the Tait house contains the collection donated by Eng. António de Almeida, and is one of the countries most important numismatics collections.

The Paper Money Museum explores the history of paper money from the 18th C, when it was first introduced by Queen Maria I.

The Portuguese Photography Centre seeks to preserve the photographic heritage, promote Portuguese and international photography and support photographic projects. Photographic exhibitions are held throughout the year.

The Rua Augusto Rosa in Oporto leads northeast from the Santa Clara church to the traffic thronged Praça da Batalha. Here the most impressive buildings are the Igreja de Santo Ildefonso, with blue and white azulejos on its Baroque facade, and the Teatro de Sao Joao (1920).

North of the Jardim do Palácio de Cristal, outside the actual city center and therefore probably not for inclusion on a first trip round Oporto is the Praça de Mousinho de Albuquerque (or Rotunda da Boavista), in the middle of which stands a massive monument 45m/148ft tall (erected 1923-29) commemorating the war with France of 1808/09.

The venerable tulip tree inside the garden is listed as a national monument. A great variety of sassafras, red-flowering gum, Judas tree and a southern magnolia grow among a collection of camellas and rare Portuguese hybrids.

Hidden away to the west of the Jardim do Palácio de Cristal is the Romantic Museum, fully furnished as a Portuguese house of the 19th C., with the room in which King Charles Albert of Sardinia (b. 1798) died in 1849 also on view.

From the terrace in front of the Igreja de Sao Bento da Vitória steps lead down east to the Largo de Sao Domingos, on the north side of which is the end of the Rua das Flores. This former street of goldsmiths and cloth merchants still has many jewelers' shops in it today.

The museum, housed in seminary, contains religious art and artifacts from the 14th to 18 C.

Of particular interest in the museum is the Benefactors Gallery, commemorating 500 years of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Port. The permanent exhibit includes paintings, sculptures, jewelry, vestments and manuscripts, and includes the 1520 "Fons Vitae", a Flemish painting from the Brussels workshop.

The Transport and Communications museum was inaugurated in 2000. It is housed in the renovated old Customs building.