The Rough Guide to Portugal (Travel Guide eBook) by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Portugal
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2019-09-13T04:57:54+00:00

Vila Nova de Gaia

The quickest way to Gaia from Porto’s upper town is to take the Funicular dos Guindais down from near Praça da Batalha and walk across the bridge; alternatively, buses #900, #901 and #906 run from São Bento station across the bridge and along the Gaia riverfront • For the upper station of the Teleférico de Gaia, take metro Line D from Aliados/São Bento to Jardim do Morro

Cross to the south side of the Rio Douro, over the Ponte Dom Luís I, and you leave the city of Porto for the once-separate town of Vila Nova de Gaia, which has now been absorbed as a neighbourhood. The riverfront here – facing Porto’s Ribeira – also has a long line of cafés, bars and restaurants; cruise boats dock along the esplanade, while the wooden craft with sails are known as barcos rabelos, the traditional boats once used to transport wine casks downriver from the Douro port estates. The views are, if anything, better from Gaia than from the Porto side, looking back across to a largely eighteenth-century cityscape, with few modern buildings intruding in the panoramic sweep from the Palácio de Cristal gardens to the cathedral towers.

The port wine lodges

Gaia, of course, is completely synonymous with the port wine trade – you can’t miss the dozens of company lodges and warehouses (known as caves), some in business for more than three centuries, that splash their brand names across every rooftop, facade and advertising hoarding. They almost all offer tastings and tours, conducted in English, with a view to enticing you to buy. Tours of the smaller, lesser-known companies tend to be more personal than those of larger producers, but they are all pretty informative and you’ll soon know the difference between a tawny and a ruby, and which vintages are best.

Teleférico de Gaia

Lower station at Cais de Gaia, upper station at Jardim do Morro • Daily: end of April to end of Sept 10am–8pm; end of Sept to end of Oct 10am–7pm; end of Oct to end of April 10am–6pm • €6 one-way, €9 return; children half-price • 223 723 709, gaiacablecar.com

The best way to explore Gaia – and to take some dramatic aerial shots of Porto and the river – is to ride the Teleférico de Gaia, or cable car. It connects the upper station, near the top level of the Ponte Dom Luís I, with the far end of the Gaia riverside, in a five-minute, 600m journey that sweeps right above the rooftops of the historic port wine lodges.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE PORTO

BY PLANE

Porto airport ( 229 432 400, ana.pt) is 13km north of the city in Maia. Metro Line E (daily 6am–1am, every 20–30min; one-way travel ticket €1.85 (plus a one-off cost of €0.60 for a rechargeable ticket) takes you directly into the centre in around 30min – to Casa da Música (for Boavista hotels), Trindade, Aliados or Bolhão (for city-centre hotels), or São Bento or Campanhã (for onward train services). Taxis from the airport into the centre cost €20–25 – make sure you get one from the authorized rank outside the terminal.

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