5 minutes from Porto airport is Leça da Palmeira, for many people consider it the most beautiful land in Portugal, in fact it is a very beautiful land with a lot to visit. This is whoever has a flight and wants to go earlier this can be a very good fuguidinha before the flight if you arrive earlier than the scheduled.
It is a land with an incredible avenue with many tourist and historical points to visit.
Today I will talk a little about this land and its monuments.
The land belongs to the district of Porto inserted in the city of Matosinhos.
Unfortunately we don't have a metro in those areas and the only way to get there is by car or bus.
Today I bring you one of the main icons of the Local (tea room)
The Boa Nova Tea House is undoubtedly one of the symbols of Leça da Palmeira. Especially because it was the first building built, together with Piscinas das Marés, to be classified as a National Monument.
Today it is one of the most striking restaurants in Leça da Palmeira / Matosinhos, perhaps because it belongs to chef Rui Paula, one of the most respected Portuguese chefs. Or because it is one of the most striking buildings in Siza Vieira's career
The Boa Nova Tea House was built in 1958, on the proposal of the then Mayor of Matosinhos, Engineer Fernando Pinto de Oliveira and intended to create a space that would be the destination for which the different interests of passers-by coincide.
Initially the project was a contest, with freedom to choose the location, and only the architect Fernando Távora chose this location among the rocks as the «ideal location», while all the others chose much simpler solutions, next to the cove. But that would not be so bold.
One of the architects of Fernando Távora's atelier was Siza Vieira who, after a more in-depth analysis, one year after the project was approved by the Municipality of Matosinhos, decided to review the entire project and proceed to profound changes, having the endorsement of the architect Fernando Távora.
Whoever arrives at the building is "invited" to do so by a staircase that takes us from south to north and from north to south. The idea is not innocent. When making the route we are "obliged" to see the sea, the horizon, the Port of Leixões. Matosinhos is «land of horizon and sea» and this is very visible in this route to access the house. And then we still have the Port of Leixões, the anchor for the development of Matosinhos, a land of fishermen.
When we reach the end of the stairs, which almost obliges us to make the route, we have the porch at the entrance that “invites” us to go there.
Then, entering, we have the staircase leading to the restaurant, which is made by the first floor and forces us to go down some stairs. But before going down we have two natural pictures that make us take a deep breath. Through a gap, between the wooden beam and the ceiling, we managed to dazzle the sea and the horizon, at the same time that our eyes are drawn to a window where we can see the rocks. This contrast is phenomenal.
Then we have the restaurant room, with the possibility to raise the glass windows and feel the sea, we have the furniture that has been carefully studied, we have a compromising environment that marks the entire building.
Around the Tea House we have the Chapel of Boa Nova, the Lighthouse of Boa Nova and António Nobre, either for the poetry inscribed on the rock, or for the sculpture of Salvador Barata Feyo.
see you soon your friend DREW
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