PORTO – BOAVISTA NEIGHBORHOOD

DESCRIPTION – Porto: Boavista Neighborhood

This walking tour in Porto is focused in the Boavista Neighborhood, an area with a lot of movement that mixes commercial streets with residential streets. Boavista began its development in the 1960s, after the construction of the Ponte da Arrábida.

We will start our itinerary by visiting the Bouça Housing Complex by the architect Álvaro Siza. From there, with a nice walk through the Avenida da Boavista,  we will arrive at the Casa da Música, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, on the occasion of the designation of Porto as a European Capital of Culture in 2001. Our next stop will be at the Casa das Artes, designed by Eduardo Souto Moura in 1980, the building is one of the most emblematic works of this architect. With a walk or by public transportation we will arrive at the Vodafone Headquarters, from the architects Barbosa & Guimarães. The last visit will be at the Serralves Foundation. Inside the enclosure is the Museum of Contemporary Art, its large gardens, the house of Serralves and an auditorium. The tour can be completed with an optional visit to the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, another project from Álvaro Siza, built between 1985 and 1996 and the Ponte da Arrábida, a bridge that crosses the Douro River, linking the city of Porto – through the Arrábida area – with Vila Nova de Gaia.