Porto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpoɾtu]), is the second-largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, and one of the major urban areas in Southern Europe and the capital of the second major great urban area in Portugal.
Its administrative limits (an area of 41.66 km²/16 sq.mi) include a population of 237,584 inhabitants.
The urban area of Porto, which extends beyond the administrative limits of the city, has a population of 1.3 million (2012) in an area of 389 km2 (150 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal.
It is recognized as a Gamma-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group, being one of five cities on the Iberian Peninsula with global city status, (the others being Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Valencia).
Located along the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.
Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin for the name "Portugal", based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin.
In Portuguese the name of the city is spelled with a definite article as "o Porto" (English: the port). Consequently, its English name evolved from a misinterpretation of the oral pronunciation and referred to as "Oporto" in modern literature and by many speakers.
Among the architectural highlights of the city, Porto Cathedral is the oldest surviving structure, together with the small romanesque Church of Cedofeita, the gothic Igreja de São Francisco (Church of Saint Francis), the remnants of the city walls and a few 15th-century houses.
The baroque style is well represented in the city in the elaborate gilt work interior decoration of the churches of St. Francis and St. Claire (Santa Clara), the churches of Mercy (Misericórida) and of the Clerics (Igreja dos Clérigos), the Episcopal Palace of Porto, and others.
The neoclassicism and romanticism of the 19th and 20th centuries also added interesting monuments to the landscape of the city, like the magnificent Stock Exchange Palace (Palácio da Bolsa), the Hospital of Saint Anthony, the Municipality, the buildings in the Liberdade Square and the Avenida dos Aliados, the tile-adorned São Bento Train Station and the gardens of the Crystal Palace (Palácio de Cristal).
A guided visit to the Palácio da Bolsa, and in particular the Arab Room, is a major tourist attraction.
Elected Best European Destination 2014 by the european citizens, Porto, the "Cidade Invicta" (unvanquished city) is history, is architecture, culture, gastronomy, trade, encounters and discoveries.
Porto has all the charm of towns which happily cohabit with their river.
You can:
- stroll along the River Douro (river of gold) in the Ribeira,
- fly over it by helicopter
- discover Porto‘s architecture, its amazing landscapes and magnificent bridges by taking a cruise on this majestic river.
