The route from Foz do Douro to Ribeira do Porto, five kilometres in a straight line, is enough for anyone to establish a close and intimate relationship with the city. Walking the "alleys and sidewalks" that Rui Veloso perpetuated in the song "Porto Sentido" - an anthem to the second largest city of Portugal -, crossing the sea and river, and sighting Serra do Pilar from beyond the bridge, one reaches the centre of Porto, heart of the city called "tripeira". "And it's always the first time", just like the artist says, singing Carlos Tê’s poem.
Full of tradition and a very unique seductive beauty, the two noble and historical areas of Porto, Foz and Ribeira, are the best postcard of the city and, therefore, two of the most desirable places to live in. Anyone who makes the journey from one end to the other will be accompanied, on the right side, first by the beach and then by the magnificent Douro River. On the left side, in Vila Nova de Gaia, you will find a dazzling escarpment where exclusive private condominiums are now being carefully built, providing a privileged view over the landscape sprinkled with bridges. In Porto, the riverbanks are connected by six bridges, all of which can be visited.
The best time to make the journey is at sunset, "the hour of magical fatigue", as Florbela Espanca wrote. If you stop for a few minutes at Passeio Alegre, almost arriving to Cantareira, you will find a street full of resistant secular palm trees, as if you were suddenly transported to another place, and you’ll see the lighthouse down there. This is where you can watch what is possibly the best sunset in the world, with thousands of golden tones flowing from the river into the street. Happy are those who, living in the buildings with luxury apartments and penthouses across the street, can watch this natural show every day.
This is also the physical milestone from which the ocean is left behind. Until you get Downtown, you'll always have the river for company. And garden benches, where you can rest. And dream of the possibility of buying a house in this dazzling waterfront. Until you reach the parish of Lordelo do Ouro, one of the most attractive in Porto, you will find several houses for sale and apartments (T1, T2, T3 and T4) that seem to come out of a fairy tale. We are talking about real estate with swimming pool, garden and windows and balconies of unusual sizes to capture all the sunlight and return a unique and unimpeded view over the river.
Lordelo do Ouro, a paradise of plot areas, settled in viewpoints that are still almost a secret, and of discreet luxury properties mixed in with traditional houses where fado is sung and fresh fish is eaten every day, is also the place that passes under the beautiful Arrábida bridge, iconic image of Porto. And it is the place that precedes Miragaia, where the Museum of the Electric Car, founded in 1992, is built. So maybe it's worth going on a tram trip from here on. If you had started back there, at Foz, it would have been 12 stops to Ribeira. But you can get in and out any time you want.
You can leave in the building of Alfândega, built in the 19th century on the waterfront of Miragaia, which was recovered by the architect Souto de Moura and which is in the process of being classified. Or you can continue until your sight stops in the imposing Church of São Francisco, a 14th-century gothic construction of a stunning beauty that announces you have reached Ribeira.
Ribeira, not by chance classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, is, once again, the place where you should walk down alleys and sidewalks and contemplate the houses full of colours and clothes hung on the balconies facing Douro. And it is perhaps time to try to take a rabelo tour, in order to get to know the six bridges, or time to climb the Guindais funicular, for you to gain a new perspective on the city.
For many years, it was practically impossible to fulfill the desire to live anywhere in this waterfront - which actually begins in Leça da Palmeira and goes through Matosinhos and the City Park until it reaches Foz - and, more impossible still, to live in Ribeira. There was no new construction, not even rehabilitation. And so there was no real estate to sell. You could see Porto, but you couldn't live Porto. In recent years, there was a readjustment of the law, of the construction sector and of the real estate brokers that allowed a new city to sprout inside the city that was fortunately preserved.
If you contact a real estate agent of a recognized company in the market, such as LUXIMOS Christie’s International Real Estate, you will notice that this is the one time in history when it is finally possible to buy the house of your dreams in the city that was most distinguished in Europe in recent years.
