What to take to Porto is question to be well aware of, before proceeding on a trip to Porto. For going to another place from one country to another country one requires proper planning considering the information about its weather.

A carry bag with multiple pouches and partitions to separately pack all the daily outdoor utility items safely and securely so that at the time of need of any item, can be conveniently taken out, without disturbing other items kept in the carry bag. A person who is doing the packing must know where each article is packed.

While going to Porto one must make a list of items to carry with and tick mark to ensure the same has been put in the carry bag. One can not rely on the personal memory a written list and ticking each item is the proper way before commencing the journey. Following items should be carried along with:

1. Adequate number of clothing for day time and night time wear considering the number of days one is going to spend at the trip and the washing activity takes more time.

2. Spare Blanket and pillow if during there is night journey in the train.

3. Light refreshment items during the journey.

4. A Camera with Flash Light, Binoculars.

5. Flat comfortable shoes, because the streets in Porto are in steep height and have uneven surface.

6. There should be water proof material for Protection from rain because the rain downpour is very heavy.

7. Carry all essential medications like eye drops, analgesic tablets, common cold tablets and vaporub, anti vomiting tablets, medicines for hyperacidity, loose motions etc.

8. Sun Screen Application, because there is very bright sunshine to protect skin burning.

9. Adequate quantity of Photographic films, battery Cells, memory cards etc.

10. A Portuguese Phrase book – try to learn few phrases commonly used so that you can communicate some thing, which you want to in local language.

11. A Bubble wrapping sheet for transporting pottery/ bottles of Porto to home safely.

12. Traveling light is a universal suggestion, which makes traveling in public transport convenient.

13. If you can manage you are advised to hire a cab for a comfortable journey.

14. All the tourists in winter are holding the essential items and always have a rain protection kit. There is no snow at Porto. When it is raining or cold winds are blowing one requires adequate protection with water proof clothes and wind cheaters.

15. The temperatures touches 10ºC medium temperature it can rise within the range of 15 ºC to 20 ºC.

16. One should have protection from flu fever by proper vaccination before undertaking the journey. It becomes very unbearable if one falls ill while traveling.

17. Porto beach water is rich in iodine, which can harm skin. Suitable Cream should be applied on the skin.

18. Porto has a hot weather during summers only light clothes are required. During winter you require warm clothes and some thing to get protection from winds, when you are in the ocean region or winds are blowing all over.

Because it is an ancient city of Portugal, it has a number of ancient monuments of great interest for the visitor. During the centuries of its existence and development great trade links are established between surrounding countries and towns.

Torre dos ClErigos Rua dos ClErigos.:

The monument dating back to middle of Eighteenth century a superb creation designed by Nicolau Nasoni. Nicolau.Nasoni was an architect originally from Italy, who had established his mastery of Art in Porto City and north of Portugal, before taking up designing of Torre dos ClErigos. By acceding to his request, he is buried in a small chapel here.

Front view of the church depicts the charming baroque finish at its contours domes and spires inviting for a closer look to observe the intricacies of the art work. The interior design has a one piece nave made of granite and marble and decorated with baroque carvings reflecting the marvelous skill of the architect. The main chapel, has amazing polychromatic altarpiece a star attraction created by Manuel Porto.

The astounding feature of the monument is the unique construction of the tower made from granite rising up at the western part of the church 75 meters height. The beginning of the tower has highly decorative designs portraying rhythmic stages in progression and at the top of tower is a spherical clock house. It is the Landmark of Porto city.

In side there is staircase providing easy climbing to the top and see the panoramic view of the Porto city from the top.

Torre, Capela ou Ermida de Sao Miguel-O-Anjo Rua do Passeio Alegre :

It is a Monument of sixteenth century constructed on a rocky island present in the river. It is declared as a monument of public interest and location has Special Conservation Area. Internally the building is of octagonal shape in such a way that three niches are facing the river. The chapel has traditional cupola having a spiral stairs for climbing it. The Tower was constructed to provide light and warn the boats navigating in the river and arriving at port. This is the uniqueness of Portugal. As on today it is a dry land.

Porto’s Commercial Center:

Most of Porto’s commercialized activities take place for the local residents at the shops satisfying their curiosities, the international buyers are rare to visit these shops. Quite recently, there is growth of clusters of shopping malls. Among them the latest are as per details given below:

1. Centro Comercial Peninsular, Praзa do Bom Sucesso.
2. These are situated in pedestrian zone of the Porto city’s central shopping location, rua de Santa Catarina, situated at the corner of rua Fernandes Tomar. The interior decoration of the mall shops are having the touch of décor found in the villages of North Portugal. Designer Clothes from France, Italy and Spain are stocked in these shopping malls.

Mercado dos Passaros, rua de Madeira:

It is a trading centre housing Open-air markets in addition to the malls. One can purchase birds kept in cage,

Mercado das Flores, Praзa de Liberdade:

Deals in Plants grown in pots meant for indoor and out door decoration of the homes and commercial places.

Numismatics Fair, Praзa Dom Joгo I: Has amazing collections of Coins and coins and medallions.

Flea markets:

These are situated at Praзa de Batalha.

Mercado de Bolгo:

It is known for stocking great variety of local fruits, vegetables, and meats. There are numerous dealers selling variety of food items, decorative flowers, spices, and kitchen appliances having an open air setup occupying huge area marked into blocks for easy approach.

Goldsmiths & Silversmiths:

Porto is very proud to have Gold & Silver Designer Shopping Area at rua das flores. These exclusive shops stock finely crafted artworks in Gold and silver as jewelry and gift items for their elite customers.

Pedro A. Baptista:

It is a marvellous jewelry shop and has in it’s collection of antique and new fashion jewelry and many decorative items. The enterprise buys rare and beautiful antique jewelry, which is exhibited after doing little bit of redoing a job on it if necessary. The articles displayed are has very intricate art on objects like filigree pins, brooches, bracelets etc. made of pure 19.2 carat gold or silver pieces gold plated for economy customers. The shop also stocks exquisite art silverware collection like highly decorative tea service ware.

The Language of Communication:

Most of the persons living in Porto city understand English language, except few living in interior places, do not understand English. The population of Porto city has great liking for persons who speak with them in their own Portuguese language, which has lot of similarity with French and Spanish language. The commonly used words are easy to learn in a short period.

National Holidays:

As in any country there are some specific holidays related to Portugal, which are celebrated here. Following are some of the holidays observed here:

January 1,  New Year’s Day.

February 12,  Shrove Tuesday/Carnaval – Bank holiday.

March 28,  Holy Thursday -Bank holiday.
March 29 , Good Friday.
March 31,  Easter.
April 1,  Easter Monday – not for banks.
April 25,  Liberation Day.
May 1, Labor Day.
May 30, Corpus Christi day.
June 10, National Day/Camoes and Portugal Day.
August 15,  Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
October 5,  Republic Day.
November 1,  All Saints Day.
December 1,  Independence Day, Youth Day.
December 8,  Immaculate Conception.
December 24,  Christmas Eve – banks.
December 25,  Christmas Day

Communication Facilities:

Being away from home, there is a craving to communicate with people back home:

Telephone Codes:

It is worth making a note that code for Portugal is 351; where as the city code for Libson is 22.

The nationally supported local number in respect of emergencies is 115;  Local information can be accessed by dialing 118; the international information and assistance can be accessed by dialing 098. These numbers should be remembered or note them in your personal diary or save in your mobile directory. There is likely change of the above mentioned numbers and need to be confirmed, when you make a visit to Porto City.

Local Calls

Local calls can be made from a of Phone privately operated café service, where there is metering device which displays value of the call you have made, make the payment of the call made at the counter.

The public Phones are coins operated, which have to be kept in a row. The quantity of coins required fall in the Phone box depending upon duration and distance of the calling station. You can obtain phone debit cards from the Post Office, which are accepted at Creditone and T-Sete booths spread all over the city.

Long Distance

For making long distance calls within Portugal put 0 before the provincial code, to access a phone call. A list of province code numbers is available at all the phone booths for necessary help.

To access a long distance call from a telephone booth can be irritating and in the hotels it is costly. One should go to telephone office and take help in getting the phone connected. As soon as the required telephone gets connected, the call gets transferred to a cubicle, for maintaining its secrecy. The payment of the phone service can be searched.

To make calls to other areas within Portugal, precede the provincial code with 0 (most phone booths have a chart inside listing the various province codes). The 0 is unnecessary when dialing from outside Portugal.

Sending Mail Home:

Mail to the home place can be made possible either through a postcard or an envelope by affixing Postage of the right denomination.

Transportation within City:

Transportation during peak hours can be a chaos. To be saved of the problem one should use Taxi or Bus service. While traveling during night time, avail the Taxi service or bus. One should know the Bus service timetable so that one reaches bus stand just at time the bus is scheduled to arrive.

The daily pre-paid tickets work out to be more economical and can be purchased by the Bus booth or from post offices and magazine kiosks.

The approximate cost to hire a car service is EUR 100 per day. The  Europcar on rental basis can be accessed from telephone Number. +351-219-40 77 90 or reservas@mail.europcar.com. Street parking cost about EUR 0.50 is extra per hour of parking in the city jurisdictions.

Phone Taxi: Phone Taxi service for going to the Airport costs EUR 18-20.

Entertainment in Porto:

City of Porto offers great entertainment options in the theatres and cinemas following places are of special mention from visitor’s point of view:

Balleteatro, Praca 9 de Abril, 76.

Casa das Artes (Arts House) Rua Ruben A, 210.

Coliseu do Porto (Porto Coliseum) Rua de Passos Manuel, 137.

Pavilhгo Rosa Mota(Rosa Mota Pavillion) Rua de D. Manuel II.

Rivoli – Teatro Municipal (Municipal Theatre) Praca D. Joгo I

Sa da Bandeira/Latino Rua de Sa da Bandeira, 108

Seiva Trupe – Teatro Vivo, C.R.L./Teatro do Campo Alegre Rua das Estrelas.
Teatro de Belomonte (Belomonte Theatre) Rua de Belomonte, 57.

Teatro Campo Alegre (Campo Alegre Theatre) Rua das Estrelas, 57

Teatro Nacional de S. Joгo

S. Joгo National Theatre. Praca da Batalha.
Teatro Helena Sa e Costa(Helena Sa e Costa Theatre) Rua da Alegria, 503

Teatro da Vilarinha (Vilarinha Theatre) Rua da Vilarinha, 1386

Teatro Latino (Latino Theatre) Rua Sa da Bandeira, 108

Casa do Medico (Doctor’s House) Rua Delfim Maia, 405

Porto city Guide is devised keeping in mind the interest of the Visitors to Porto City. It includes descriptions of various places of interest, which the visitor shall like to decide, which place to visit keeping in mind his interest and the time available with him so that the visit is memorable.

Glorious Past & Present of Porto City:

Porto is city in Portugal depicting both ruins of the medieval period as well as the modern architectural splendors marked by numerous bridges, making easy to navigate by all kinds of vehicular traffic, without interfering in the civic activities of the population in general.

The construction of massive bridges involves a high degree of town planning, which interests engineers and architects of other countries for make it a point to visit the marvelous creation for a close look and take help from the engineers involved in building of these bridges to understand the intricacies of the design deployed.

Some people treat a modern industrial town having finest planning of the internal roads and the bridges for fast and heavy traffic movement without any obstruction.

Status of Porto City:

Porto ranks as second largest town of Portugal its capital in the north, with all its natural beauties and charming locations for visitor attraction, of which Porto is truly proud. Proto has progressed into a high profile industrial town in the region.

Proto in the past was known by the name Portucale during the rule of Suedes, subsequently there was change of its name as Oporto, when it was ruled by Goths Moors and witnessed to be a rich trading centre of the medieval and present times. Now it is popularly known as Porto, which is truly cosmopolitan in its character.

Porto is also famous for its Monuments, Museums and Palaces built by its various rulers depicting their cultures and architecture of the era preserved and well maintained for posterity.

Guerra Junqueiro House-Museum, Rua D. Hugo:

It is 18^th century museum, situated near Cathedral and is used to display private collections of Guerra junqueiro housing some 14^th century Portuguese furniture items besides classic ceramics, silverware, brassware and very rare religious sculpture .

Museum de Arte Contemporanea da Fundasao Serralves

Rua D. JoAo de Castro:

It has mixed architectural designs and also has in addition 4500 square meter of exhibition area. It has annexed to it 8200 square meter area housing an auditorium, a public library, a documentation centre, a relaxation centre and a roof restaurant facing the park having finest natural look.

Soares dos Reis National Museum Rua D. Manuel II:

The museum is present in eighteenth century palace representing classical and eighteenth century architecture and has on display valuable collections in respect of nineteenth and twentieth century Portuguese paintings. Among all, the painting of “Porto school” pertaining to naturalist era has a special attraction. Art works of Silva Porto, Marques de Oliveira, Artur Loureiro and Henrique Pousao have their unique paintings on display besides the most typical art works of outstanding sculptor Soares dos Reis.

Romantic Museum of Quinta da Macieirinha Rua Entrequintas:

The museum has on display, collection of decoration art consisting of painting, Nineteenth century furniture and a number of articles belonging to King Carlos Alberto of Sardinia.

Stock Exchange Rua Ferreira Borges:

The stock exchange is extremely wonderful place being the merger of the past and present architecture. The most attractive part of this palace consists of Patio das NasУes and a beauty enhancing granite and marble stairs besides several rooms decked with outstanding paintings and furniture articles. Out of all of them it is the Arab Room, having outstanding significance.

The Monuments at Porto:

Capela de Nossa Senhora de Agosto - Porto Largo de Entrada da Rua do Sol:

It is a great Church depicting Sixteenth Century architecture created in the later period.

Castelo do Queijo:

It is Seventeenth century Fort, which is triangular in appearance, and is cut short facing the sea. This 17C triangular fort is truncated at the end facing the sea. At three corners watch towers are built to observe the surrounding area by the guards. Entire Fort is surrounded by a wide and deep water channel preventing easy sneaking of any person to the temple.

Inside the Fort there is a Chapel and this comprises the residence of the Governor.

EdifМcio da Livraria Lello & Irmao:

At no. 144 on Rua das Carmelitas, located towards west of Prasa da Liberdade, the entry to the monument is marked by amazing culture objects of the past. The glorious facade consists of a broad arch structure displaying two paint covered art figures one signifies Art and other is the Science aspect. The bulding is part of the national heritage of City of Porto.

There benches made of wood and covered with rich leather upholstery. There are book cases made of wood placed by the walls inside the room, give a very effect of Royal welcome to the visitor. In the middle of the room there are elegant stairs for going up, which give the ornamental look to the place. The rich artistic taste during the Gothic period is truly reflected in the artistic choices made in the construction of this monument.

Forte Sao Joao Baptista:

The Fort has two storey construction of defensive structure surrounding the fort, where the guards can walk and keep the fort vigilance and defense for protecting any one to enter from the sea bound  boundary surrounding the town. The chapel has hexagonal tile covering the cupola structure built over it surrounded by roof like structure having support of the brackets.