The reputation of Porto as a city lies with its being a busy industrial and commercial center. Though city is itself is not as populous, however, is spread around a radius of about 50 km along with cities like Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia, Gondomar and Espinho. The city was constructed around the Douro river estuary and its historical center was awarded with World Heritage Status by UNESCO in 1996. The climate of Porto is semi Mediterranean, yet it is heavily affected by the Atlantic Ocean, this makes it rather cooler than other Mediterranean cities. Sometimes temperature there goes up to as high as 40degree Celsius due to temporary heat waves.
The natives of Porto, those are Portuguese, keeps themselves different from the rest of the country. Outsiders treat Porto to be rather crass and mercantile in comparison to rest of the country and there lacks as in the social graces and aptitudes. This has occurred on the account of the fact that city was earlier been dominated by Portuguese bourgeoisie and English trading factions rather than the nobility. The architecture of the city is quite differentiated along with the medieval as well as modern living side by side. Porto’s geography is hard to feel and yet is robust to be looking to the eyes. The city is entirely hilly and there numerous buildings are constructed into a cliff face that even looks towards the river. Across the river from Porto proper, in the suburb of Gaia, are situated the warehouses of notable companies dealing with Port Wine, such as Cálem, Fonseca, Sandemans, Kopke, and others.
As for visiting and having the tour of the city, one can start tour from the Ribeira that is the part of the city close to tour of area around the World Heritage site. At the other side of the river is Ribeira de Gaia, a common area from the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, where you can find the Port Wine Cellars. Next you can go to the Sao Francisco church and the Stock Exchange nearby. Some of the popular spots to visit in Porto follow as:
• Fundação de Serralves: It is a modern Museum developed by the famous architect Álvaro Siza that has a massive garden/park and an Art Deco Villa. While having the tour of this foundation, there you can make up a tour of exhibitions, relax at the park and can have the lunch at restaurant.
• Pavilhão Rosa Mota: It is a multi purpose pavilion that shows a good number of nice gardens to stay there and take rest. Close to it is situated the Museu Romantico, that is a house where the king of Italy used to stay while on exile.
Other places as worth visiting there are soares dos Reis and the photography museum.
