When I wrote about Porto, I forgot to tell, that Porto is very small. Same as Paris, center of this Portuguese agglomeration decided not to “devour” their suburbs, which could be even bigger than their famous neighbor. So, nowadays Porto – it is just a historical center and some residential quarters, where lives a little bit more than 200 000 people. Not too much, right?
Territorially Porto also not too big and, if you want, you could cross it without any troubles. Portuguese “north capital” also has an access to the Atlantic Ocean, but it is rather uncomfortable to get there: there is no metro, but to walk so far with baby carriage or to search a proper bus I hadn’t wanted. So, in this situation I got some help from the above-mentioned suburbs, where metro goes very close to the ocean line. For example, in Matosinhos.
Matosinhos – it’s a small industrial and harbor city in the north of Porto. But don’t imagine it as some industrial boondocks – it is very nice and homely. At least, in the city center. Matosinhos looks like a quiet and not too rich province, where life goes very slowly (and I like it). There are a lot of multi-story houses, historical buildings aren’t in the best condition, but closeness to Porto you could feel only looking at modern metro, which connect these two cities. Metro line crosses Matosinhos historical center and takes a whole street.
Of course, there are many houses made in traditional Portuguese style.
At first sight you could decide, that Matosinhos is a very poor city, but I found some special charm in it. There is no “plastic” touristic streets, loud clubs and bars and annoying “hunters”, which always looking for confiding tourists (I hope, that you understand what I mean). In Matosinhos life goes like it is just a big fishing village – with its own history and lifestyle.
In Matosinhos you could find a great fish and bird market.
Great variety and very nice prices (in comparison with Germany) will surprise everyone. Frankly speaking, many of these sea animals and fishes I have seen for the first time.
Even in Matosinhos it is possible to find a beautiful architectural works!
But here you could see ordinary residential areas: a little bit of greenery and new (or repaired) houses. Don’t looks like a ghetto, but, in my opinion, some houses are too high for comfortable life.
But the main reason, why I visited Matosinhos – it is, of course, an ocean, which I have never seen before. And it was beautiful!
City beach is incredibly wide!
Beach is located near harbor, so all the time you could see a lot of big cargo ships in details.
Despite that I was in Portugal in the end of November and water temperature was about 15 degrees Celsius, some people had fun in water.
Along the beach goes nice and modern seafront.
But the next thing made me really surprised: it is seafront buildings. Normally living places in the “first line” are extremely expensive and there are only hotels and mansions of local moneybags. But not in Matosinhos. Here you could find… yes, ordinary multi-story houses, so every worker could afford to have a sea view apartment.
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