Aliados & Bolhão

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Overview

With a regal beaux arts boulevard blazing through its centre, this vibrant neighbourhood hides boutiques, old-school grocery stores, pavement cafes, and baroque churches dazzling with azulejos (hand-painted tiles) down its backstreets. This is where Porto comes to market-shop, eat and play, with the Galerias enticing party-goers to its speakeasy-style bars, slinky cocktail-sipping lounges and live-music venues after dark.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Detail of Sao Bento Train station in Oporto. The first train arrived here in 1896, but the building (designed with a French Renaissance touch) opened in 1903.; Shutterstock ID 7016608; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    São Bento Train Station

    Aliados & Bolhão

    One of the world's most beautiful train stations, beaux arts São Bento wings you back to a more graceful age of rail travel. Completed in 1903, it seems…

  • APRIL 19, 2017: Customers browse books inside the famous bookshop, Lello e Irmao (1906). 785980567 architecture, art, art-nouveau, attraction, neo-gothic, book, bookshop, bookstore, building, century, capital, culture, commerce, design, detail, decorated, europe, european, eu, famous, historic, historical, irmao, landmark, location, lello, livraria, nouveau, old, oporto, ornate, picturesque, porto, portugal, portuguese, shop, sight, sightseeing, store, travel, trip, tourism, inside, indoor, interior, bookshelf, shelf, wooden

    Livraria Lello

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Ostensibly a bookshop, but even if you’re not after books, don’t miss this exquisite 1906 neo-Gothic confection, with its lavishly carved plaster…

  • Capela das Almas door

    Capela das Almas

    Aliados & Bolhão

    On Rua de Santa Catarina stands the strikingly ornate, azulejo-clad Capela das Almas. Magnificent blue-and-white panels here depict scenes from the lives…

  • Praça da Batalha

    Praça da Batalha

    Aliados & Bolhão

    At the southern end of Rua de Santa Catarina is the lovely, eclectic Praça da Batalha, framed by Nasoni’s gracefully baroque Igreja de Santo Ildefonso…

  • Avenida dos Aliados

    Avenida dos Aliados

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Lined with bulging, beaux arts facades and capped by the stately câmara municipal (municipal council), this avenida recalls grand Parisian imitators such…

  • Rua de Santa Catarina 3

    Rua de Santa Catarina

    Aliados & Bolhão

    This street is absurdly stylish and romantic, with trim boutiques, striped stone footpaths and animated crowds. It's home to Porto's most ornate tearoom,…

  • Trader at meat goods stall at Bolhao Market.

    Mercado do Bolhão

    Aliados & Bolhão

    The 19th-century, wrought-iron Mercado do Bolhão closed its doors in spring 2018 for a major restoration project. No fixed date had been given for its…

  • Torre dos Clérigos

    Torre dos Clérigos

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Sticking out on Porto's skyline like a sore thumb – albeit a beautiful baroque one – this 76m-high tower was designed by Italian-born baroque master…

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