PORTO, a top 5 urban moment of my life | Portugal Summer Stop 4

[Cirrus]

Cirrus' Portugal Summer
Preface: The doomed Lisbon tram
Stop 1: Lisbon
Stop 2: Óbidos
Stop 3: Coimbra
Stop 4: Porto
Stop 5: The non-glamorous central province

PORTO!

Portugal's second city is as picturesque as they come. Everybody raves about the view from atop the Luís I Bridge, with the city cascading down to the Douro River below, and omg yes, it is every bit as remarkable as social media makes you think. Pictures do not remotely do it justice. But here you are anyway.

















In the United States we would have ripped this out and run a highway along the waterfront. We did that in similar-looking quays in Philadelphia, Saint Louis, and others.








The view--with its sunny blue sky and windy breeze in your hair--is only part of the charm. The top of the bridge is car-free, a pedestrian paradise, made even better by Porto's light rail tramway passing by. I really could have just stayed up here on this bridge all day.












More on the trams later. In classic Portuguese style, there is a lot of thought given to up/down movement. Many modes of travel.














You finally cross the bridge and enter the central city.






I kinda effed the color on some of these. Cringe.




The tile is beautiful regardless.










Porto's São Bento train station is one of those places that's been popping up in my Instagram Explore feed for years and years. I never thought I'd see it in person. But here I am, and yeah, absolutely gorgeous:














Nice trainshed.














Here it is from the outside. We were there in August, and the center of the city was torn up for construction of a new subway line.




It'll be the "new pink line." And yes, folks, listen to the good graffiti: Love your transgender friends.




Big European city: Check
Cathedral: Check




Out amid the central city:
































How about a little busway, as a treat?




How about a little sideboob, as a treat?




How about a little Doritos Locos Taco, as a... I can't do it.




Let's just move on.






















Porto isn't criss-crossed by adorable old trams everywhere the way Lisbon is, but they've clearly caught on to the benefit, because there are a few.




The real tramway action is the "Metro," which is really just a light rail tramway, but it's modern and it runs as a subway through the center city. Pretty nice.




Fairly basic as subways go. A lot like a 2nd tier French city.






Open gangways FTW




On the surface it's more of a modern tramway.






Heading out to the suburbs:






I mean, you know, "suburbs" is relative.




And off at an honest to god park-and-ride.








The parking lot was unpaved. And apparently this person drove here from the Czech Republic.

[Cirrus]

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[ColDayMan]

Yes, that's my favorite city in Portugal.

[OhioGuy]

Awesome! Looks really great!

[craigs]

Excellent photo thread, thanks!

[Echoes]

I ate so well in Porto.

Thanks for sharing!

[OakAngeles]

Truly amazing thread. That train station especially is incredible. I'd like to think that I've seen a few nice union stations in my day but not can match how ornate that one is. Interesting to see those blue/white decorative tile mosaics on the exterior of buildings as well

[citizensf]

Awesome photos. When I think of cities that punch way above their weight in terms of urbanity, Porto is right up there. It felt so much bigger and more vibrant than the population might suggest on paper. Truly wonderful.

I had the fortune to visit during the São João Festival. The only bummer was that I hit Porto first on my itinerary. Despite Lisbon wonderful city in its own right, I thought Porto really upstaged its larger sibling to the south.

[Architype]

Very beautiful, great photos. Of course any city like this also has more ordinary modern areas as well.

[Six Corners]

Beautiful pictures! We visited Porto as part of our honeymoon trip. For this part of the trip it was between here and a Portugese beach town whose name I can't remember ATM, but I'm so glad we picked Porto. Truly an amazing experience. The history with the bridges was fascinating. I noticed how Ponte Luis I resembeled the base of the Eiffel Tower in some ways. On a city tour I learned there was a competition to design the bridge and both Gustave Eiffel and a former partner of his entered. The partner won, hence the resemblance to the Eiffel Tower.

While port wine didn't end up being my style, I did discover verde wine there which is delicious.

One of the more interesting buildings to me was the Parca de Lisboa (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Lg5moM2bXPnvwSF5A) . Built into a hill, it's essentially a city park on top, trendy retail built partially subterranean midway down the hill and a mostly subterranean parking garage at the bottom. What struck me was how neatly this building accommodates green space, commerce, AND parking without creating big concessions in urban design as many buildings often do in the US do.

[Cirrus]

I saw that park. Not sure I liked it as much as you, but it was surely interesting.

[xzmattzx]

Great pictures!

[geomorph]

Thanks for the tour! The train station hall I do not find attractive though. The ceiling is far too vibrant and detracts from the scenes on the walls.