Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Culturally, Porto holds its own against much larger global cities. The birthplace of port,
it's a long-standing mecca for wine aficionados. Riverside wine caves jockey for attention
in nearby Vila Nova de Gaia, with scores of cellars open for tastings. With appealing new
kitchens springing up regularly, its palate is slowly growing more cosmopolitan. And
thanks to a number of superb venues, Porto residents dance to many of the world's top
rock, jazz and electronic artists. On warm summer nights many a plaza can feel like one
enormous block party.
Of course, you'll be forgiven if what you remember most are the quiet moments: the
slosh of the Douro against the docks; the snap of laundry lines drying in river winds; the
shuffle of a widow's feet against cobblestone; the sound of wine glasses clinking under a
full moon; the sight of young lovers discreetly tangled under a landmark bridge, on the
rim of a park fountain, in the crumbling notch of a graffiti-bombed wall…
History
Porto put the 'Portu' in 'Portugal'. The name dates from Roman times, when Lusitanian
settlements straddled both sides of the Rio Douro. The area was briefly in Moorish hands
but was reconquered by AD 1000 and reorganised as the county of Portucale, with Porto
as its capital. British-born Henri of Burgundy was granted the land in 1095, and it was
from here that Henri's son and Portuguese hero Afonso Henriques launched the Recon-
quista (Christian reconquest), ultimately winning Portugal its status as an independent
kingdom.
In 1387 Dom João I married Philippa of Lancaster in Porto, and their most famous son,
Henry the Navigator, was born here. While Henry's explorers groped around Africa for a
sea route to India, British wine merchants - forbidden to trade with the F rench - set up
shop, and their presence continues to this day, evidenced in port-wine labels such as
Taylor's and Graham's.
Over the following centuries Porto acquired a well-earned reputation for rebelliousness.
In 1628 a mob of angry women attacked the minister responsible for a tax on linen. A
'tipplers riot' against the Marquês de Pombal's regulation of the port-wine trade was sav-
agely put down in 1757. And in 1808, as Napoleon's troops occupied the city, Porto cit-
izens arrested the French governor and set up their own short-lived junta. After the British
helped drive out the French, Porto radicals were at it again, leading calls for a new liberal
constitution, which they got in 1822. Demonstrations in support of liberals continued to
erupt in Porto throughout the 19th century.
