City pack · Porto, Portugal
20 narrated stories about Porto — streets, landmarks and the people behind their names — about 64 minutes of listening. Play them here, or download the pack and listen offline on the plane, the train, the walk.
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O Barão de Forrester · 3 min · page
Baron Joseph James Forrester drowned in 1861 when his boat capsized at the Cachão da Valeira gorge. Legend suggests he was pulled down by a heavy belt filled with gold coins. While his companions survived, his body was never recovered.
The Physician's Revolution on Rua Miguel Bombarda · 3 min · page
Miguel Bombarda was a pioneer of psychiatry and a republican assassinated in 1910. The street named after him is now Porto’s Creative District, famous for contemporary art galleries and 'Simultaneous Openings' where all galleries host new exhibitions at once.
A Casa Escondida · 3 min · page
This house was built because law prohibited churches from sharing a wall and to separate monks from nuns. Measuring just over a meter wide, it served as a residence for chaplains, doctors, and bell-ringers until the 1980s.
A escadaria da Livraria Lello · 3 min · page
No, J.K. Rowling revealed in 2020 that she never set foot in Livraria Lello while living in Portugal. Furthermore, the bookstore's famous staircase is actually made of reinforced concrete and hand-painted plaster instead of real wood.
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Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal · 3 min · page
This Neo-Gothic bookstore features a winding crimson staircase made of painted reinforced concrete and a large stained-glass skylight. Its Gemma room houses rare treasures, including first editions and signed copies that represent the pinnacle of Portuguese and international literature.
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Estação de São Bento, Porto, Portugal · 3 min · page
Designed by José Marques da Silva, the station is famous for its atrium containing twenty thousand hand-painted tiles by Jorge Colaço. These azulejos depict pivotal moments in Portuguese history and the evolution of transport, such as the Battle of Valdevez.
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Mercado do Bolhão, Porto, Portugal · 3 min · page
Opened in 1914 and designed by António Correia da Silva, this neoclassical market in Porto was restored in 2022. It features fresh produce, legendary vendors called Damas do Bolhão, and an upper level offering local cheeses, olive oils, and Vinho Verde.
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Capela das Almas, Porto, Portugal · 3 min · page
The 16,000 tiles depict stories from the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Added in 1929 by Eduardo Leite, these azulejos cover nearly 360 square meters of the 18th-century chapel's exterior walls.
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Avenida Vasco da Gama, Porto · 3 min · page
The avenue is named after the navigator Vasco da Gama, who first sailed from Europe to India. It was likely named around 1898 to celebrate the voyage's 400th anniversary and anchor Porto's urban growth in the Age of Discovery.
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Portobello Road in Notting Hill · 3 min · page
The road was named after Porto Bello Farm, built by farmer Mr. Adams to commemorate Admiral Edward Vernon’s 1739 capture of the Spanish stronghold Puerto Bello. It originally served as a country lane leading from the main highway to that farm.
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Avenida Dom João II, Porto · 3 min · page
The avenue is named after King John II of Portugal, the "Perfect Prince." He was a strategist who oversaw Bartolomeu Dias’s voyage and negotiated the Treaty of Tordesillas, which secured Portugal’s claim to the lands that would become Brazil.
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A lenda das tripas · 4 min · page
In 1415, Porto's citizens gave all their prime meat to supply the fleet conquering Ceuta. Left with only tripe, they created a legendary stew and earned the nickname Tripeiros, signifying their sacrifice and loyalty to the nation.
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Rua de Serpa Pinto, Porto · 3 min · page
The street honors Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, a soldier and explorer born in 1846. He became a national hero by becoming the fourth European to cross Africa from west to east, a two-year journey where he mapped the upper Zambezi River.
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Avenida do Marechal Gomes da Costa, Porto · 3 min · page
The street honors Manuel Gomes da Costa, a soldier who led the 1926 uprising ending Portugal’s First Republic. He briefly served as Prime Minister and President. The avenue is known for its elegant architecture and the Serralves Foundation.
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Avenida de Fernão de Magalhães, Porto · 4 min · page
The avenue is named after Ferdinand Magellan, a navigator believed to be from Porto who organized the first global circumnavigation. The city named this long street after him during 20th-century expansion to reclaim him as a son of Porto.
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Rua de Júlio Dinis, Porto · 3 min · page
Rua de Júlio Dinis is named after Joaquim Guilherme Gomes Coelho, a Porto-born physician and professor known as the storyteller Júlio Dinis. He wrote about 19th-century life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-one.
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Rua de Pedro Hispano, Porto · 3 min · page
Pedro Hispano was a thirteenth-century physician and the only Portuguese-born pope, known as Pope John XXI. He wrote a medical manual for the poor and died in 1277 when his study's ceiling collapsed in Viterbo.
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Avenida Eugénio de Andrade, Porto · 3 min · page
The street is named after Eugénio de Andrade, a celebrated Portuguese poet who lived in Porto for over fifty years. Located in the Paranhos district, it was named in 2005 to honor him after his death in June that year.
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Rua de São Roque da Lameira, Porto · 3 min · page
Historically part of the Estrada Real, this street is named after Saint Roch, a patron saint against infectious diseases. The name also references a 'lameiro,' or muddy meadow, which defined the landscape before the road became one of Porto’s historical arteries.
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Rua de Dom Manuel II, Porto · 3 min · page
It is named after Manuel II, Portugal's last king, who reigned for two years before exile. Porto chose the name to honor his post-monarchy work collecting rare Portuguese books and documenting the nation's literary history.
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