Portugal

Arabian Hall , a pastiche of the Alhambra in Granada. Oval in shape, it is adorned
with arabesques, carved woodwork, and stained-glass windows, all evocative of the Moors
of long ago. The garden in back is especially lovely.
Rua Ferreira Borges, 4050-253 Porto. & 22/339-90-00. www.palaciodabolsa.pt. Admission (with guided
30-min. tour in English, French, and Spanish included) 6€ adults, 4€ children under 12. Nov–Mar daily
9am–12:30pm and 2–5:30pm; Apr–Oct daily 9am–6:30pm. Bus: 1.
Torre dos Clérigos West of Praça de Liberdade, follow Rua dos Clérigos to the
Clérigos Tower, which the Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni designed in 1754. The tower’s
six floors rise to a height of some 76m (249 ft.), which makes it one of the tallest structures
in the north of Portugal. You can climb 225 steps to the top of the belfry, where
you’ll be rewarded with one of the city’s finest views, of Porto and the river Douro. The
Italianate baroque Igreja dos Clérigos, at the same site, was also built by Nasoni and
predates the tower.
Rua São Filipe De Nery. & 22/200-17-29. Admission to tower 2€; church free. Tower Nov–Mar daily
10am–noon and 2–5pm; Apr–Oct daily 9:30am–1pm and 2–7pm; Aug daily 10am–7pm. Church Mon–Sat
9am–noon and 3:30–7:30pm; Sun 10am–1pm. Bus: 15.
SAMPLING PORT & TOURING THE LODGES
No other city in Portugal is as devoted to port wine as Porto. The history of the city itself
is largely dependent on this product, and hundreds of locals labor to promote the product
in markets throughout the world.
The actual port-wine lodges (Taylor’s Port, Sandeman, Ferreira, Porto Cálem, and
Ramos Pinto) lie across the river from Porto at Vila Nova de Gaia. Like the sherry makers
at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, these places are hospitable and run free tours for visitors.
Ferreira The legendary Ferreira is one of the biggest wine lodges in Porto. Dating
from the early 1800s, it was launched by Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira. From a modest
beginning, with only a handful of vineyards, her company rose in power and influence,
gobbling up wine estate after wine estate. At its apex, its holdings stretched all the
way to the border of Spain, making its owner the richest woman in the nation. The
fabled entrepreneur (known as Ferreirinha, or “Little Ferreira”) nearly drowned in the
Douro in 1861, but her voluminous petticoats kept her buoyant. Her companion, an
Englishman named Baron de Forrester, who did not wear petticoats, wasn’t as lucky.
Av. Diogo Leite 70. & 22/375-20-66 or 22/374-52-92. Daily 10:30am–12:30pm and 2–6pm. Bus: 57 or 91.
Porto Cálem Founded in 1959 by the Cálem family, this wine-production company
was taken over by a bank based in Vigo, Spain, in 2001. Its tour is much less formal than
one at Sandeman, next door. A tour hostess will guide you through the barrel-making
process, leading you past 75-year-old oaken casks, each laid out in an antique stone-sided
warehouse whose walls are marked with the high-water marks of each of the floods of the
past 200 years. The tour eventually heads upstairs to an antique room whose displays of
port evoke the great days of the wine trade at its best. The cellars are a bit newer than those
at the more established firms, but the port, depending on the vintage, is just as good.
Av. Diogo Leite 26. & 22/374-66-60. www.calem.pt. May–Oct daily 10am–7pm (6:30pm last visit); Nov–
Apr Mon–Sat 10am–6pm (5:30pm last visit). Bus: 57 or 91.
Ramos Pinto This wine producer is usually acknowledged as the most interesting
and best-preserved of any in Porto and Vila de Gaia. Owned since 1991 by the
French champagne company Roederer, it showcases the creation in 1880 by Adriano
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PORTO & ENVIRONS 13
PORTO