This time, we try to explore the northern part of Porto’s old town on our city walk. The starting point is São Bento train station.
The entrance hall is richly decorated with azulejos (Portuguese tile paintings). One shows the conquest of Ceuta by Infante D. Henrique, who made Portugal a maritime nation. The station is connected by a tunnel system to Campanhã station, where long-distance trains stop. Below the station is the metro station, which leads to the Trindade junction.
We continue towards the cathedral and turn left into Rua Cha, where the typical Portuguese architecture is beautifully visible. Continuing along Rua do Cativo, we reach the Praça da Batalha square. A market dominates the scene here. The National Theater Teatro Nacional São João rises on its southern side.
To the northeast, the square is bordered by the Igreja Paroquial de Santo Ildefonso church. It is characterized by its beautiful tile paintings, which consist of 11,000 tiles.
To the west, Rua de 31 de Janeiro leads steeply downhill from here and uphill on the opposite side to the Igreja dos Clérigos church. The street name refers to the date on which the uprising against the monarchy to found the republic began here in 1891. In May 2007, the Portuguese Ski Association organized a ski race here on a 200 m long slope. This required 250 tons of nitrogen.
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Towards the northeast is the R. de Santa Catarina, another important shopping and restaurant street, where we visit the Café Majestic, one of Porto’s tourist highlights. Joanne K. Rowling often spent time in this Art Nouveau-style café, where she wrote the first chapters of her first Harry Potter book in the early 1990s.
The next stop is the Mercado do Bolhão market hall. It can be reached via R. Formosa, past the gift and food store Pérola do Bolhão, characterized by its Art Deco-style façade. The market hall is also a tourist attraction due to its selected foods.
The Mercado do Bolhão is a food market for regional goods. The hustle and bustle attracts locals and tourists alike. The neoclassical building is built into a slope so that the side entrances are on the second floor and the rear entrance is on the 2nd floor.
Just a few minutes’ walk away is the city’s most important square, Avenida dos Aliados, which is dominated to the north by the town hall (Câmara Municipal de Porto) with its 70m high tower.
Unfortunately, the southern part of the square is currently a construction site, as the subway to the Douro is being built. The equestrian statue of Dom Pedro IV, made of 10 tons of bronze, can only be seen to a limited extent. The subway line is due to be completed in 2025. The south side is bordered by the InterContinental Porto Hotel.
As we reach Rua dos Clérigos, we see the sardine store O Mundo Fantástico das Sardinhas Portuguesas on the left.
Selected sardines and other seafood are sold here in imaginatively printed tins. There is a second store in New York. The friendly salesman is from Cape Verde.
At the end of the street is the church, Igreja e Torre dos Clérigos. It is Saturday, and the crowds at the entrance are huge, so we decided not to visit.
In the square, in front of the church, is the park Jardim da Cordoaria. Next to the church, it is surrounded by the Portuguese Center for Photography (Centro Português de Fotografia), the Municipal Courthouse (Tribunal Judicial da Comarca do Porto), and the Museum of Natural History and Science (Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto). The museum shares the building with the University of Porto (Universidade do Porto).
Opposite the university is the Catholic Church of Portugal (Igreja do Carmo), which has been classified as a national monument. The side wall is covered with a large tiled plaque.
To the east of the university, in R. das Carmelitas, we book a visit for the next few days at Livraria Lello, the famous Harry Potter bookshop, before heading down towards São Bento.
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