Porto fado show with a kid, plus the cathedral and Gaia

Our 2 weeks in PortugalDays 13–14 · March 29–30All posts ↓← Porto (3): market, sunset and light showNext: One night in Brussels (coming soon)Full itinerary

In this post Our last full day in Porto and the day we left. On March 29, under a blue sky for the first time in a while, we walked Infante Dom Henrique Garden and the Ribeira waterfront, toured Porto Cathedral and the Episcopal Palace, crossed the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge and had dinner in Gaia. We ended the night with a fado show in Porto, and on March 30 we flew to Brussels at midday.

WhenFriday, March 29, 2024, day 13 of our tripSaturday, March 30, 2024, day 14, the day we left Porto
Route for the day
March 29
1. ~1:00 p.m.
  A walk through the center, pastel de nata and coffeeFoodThe first clear day in a while, with street performers out
2. 🚶 On foot
3. ~2:20 p.m.
  Infante Dom Henrique Garden and the Ribeira waterfrontSightsWatching gulls, then down to the river
4. 🚶 On foot, uphill
5. ~3:50 p.m.
  A hilltop café overlooking the DouroBreakMy Coffee Porto: hot chocolate and port wine
6. 🚶 On foot
7. ~4:20 p.m.
  Porto Cathedral and the Episcopal PalaceSightsAbout 50 minutesA Romanesque church and a museum with a view of the Douro
8. 🚶 On foot, over the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge
9. ~6:05 p.m.
  Gaia: dinner at the Italian restaurant Mamma BellaFoodDinner and a stroll along the river
10. 🚕 Taxi
11. ~7:15 p.m.
  Fado showSights1 hourA semi-basement venue
12. 🚕 Taxi
13. ~9:00 p.m.
  NorteShoppingShoppingA late dinner and groceries
Morning Midday Late afternoon Evening NightMarch 30
1. 12:55 p.m. departure
  Porto AirportTransitFlight to Brussels, after some time at the airport playground
AdmissionPaidThe cloister and museum at Porto Cathedral, the Episcopal Palace and the fado showFreeThe nave of Porto Cathedral, Infante Dom Henrique Garden and the Ribeira waterfront, the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge
BookingWe booked the fado show in advance
WeatherMarch 29: high of 14°C (57°F), the first blue sky in a while, then rain again in the afternoon and at night
WhoTwo adults and one kid
Where we sleptAn Airbnb apartment in Porto, night 5 of 5

In this post

Our last day, and a blue sky at last

Friday, March 29, was our last full day in Porto, and it ended with a Porto fado show. The apartment window showed clear sky that morning, and we set out hoping for blue for the first time in a while. The unfamiliar streets had become familiar, and the city that had seemed a little plain at first had grown on us, so we were already feeling wistful.

With the sky clear, the street performers and artists who had been missing all week came out, and people on walking tours were finally visible too. We bought a few cork souvenirs as we walked through the center. We picked up coffee at the Starbucks on Rua dos Clérigos and, nearby, our first pastel de nata from Manteigaria in a while.

In the Infante Dom Henrique Garden (Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique) by the river we met gulls. The garden, above Ribeira, is surrounded by the Ferreira Borges Market and the Palácio da Bolsa (Stock Exchange Palace), with a statue of Prince Henry the Navigator at its center. Our kid watched the gulls take off and land for a long time. With the sun out, the grass and the old buildings looked much richer in color. Down on the Ribeira waterfront, the colorful houses we had been looking at from across the river were just as charming up close.

The route line and the river are simplified, so real distances and directions differ a little.

Porto fado show: Gulls on the lawn of Infante Dom Henrique Garden — Gulls on the lawn of Infante Dom Henrique Garden

To get from under the Dom Luís I Bridge up to Porto Cathedral, we had to climb another hill. As we were catching our breath, we spotted a small café with a view of the Douro and Gaia, My Coffee Porto, and went in. It was chilly, so we sat at the empty outdoor tables. Our kid had hot chocolate, and my wife and I decided to enjoy one more glass of port before leaving.

The Douro and the orange-roofed waterfront, seen from in front of the hilltop café

Porto Cathedral and the Episcopal Palace

On the way to the cathedral it rained and stopped, again and again. My wife and I traded notes on architectural styles as we walked into Porto Cathedral (Sé do Porto).

Construction of Porto Cathedral began in the 12th century in the Romanesque style. The facade has a 12th-century rose window, and the crenellations along the top make it look like a fortress. The nave, with thick granite columns and rounded arches rising high, was fairly dark, which made the gilded altar at the far end stand out more. The main chapel was built in 1610, and the gilded altarpiece dates from the first half of the 18th century. The paintings on the chapel walls are by the architect Nicolau Nasoni, who also built the loggia (an open gallery) on the side of the church in 1736. The Gothic cloister was begun in the late 14th century, and it holds seven large 18th-century azulejo panels illustrating the Song of Songs from the Old Testament.

The nave of Porto Cathedral and the gilded altar at the far end

After the cathedral we went into the Episcopal Palace (Paço Episcopal) next door. The bishop of Porto has had a residence on this spot since the 12th century, and the present building was extensively remodeled in the late 18th century under Bishop D. Frei João Rafael de Mendonça (1771–1793). From 1916 to 1957 the city hall used it, and since 2016 it has been open as a museum. You climb a grand neoclassical staircase, pass palace-style rooms hung with portraits of past bishops and a dining room set with silverware, and end at a view of the Douro. A large room with red walls, crystal chandeliers and gilt mirrors left an impression, and through the windows we could see the river and the bridge. The tower with a view over the city was closed because of a Mass that day, so we saved it for another visit.

The red room with its chandelier in the Episcopal Palace

The Dom Luís I Bridge through a window of the Episcopal Palace

In the square in front of the cathedral stands a stone pillar, a pelourinho (pillory). It is a symbol of the city’s right to govern itself, and in the past criminals were tied to it and punished. This one is a 1945 reconstruction based on a 1797 drawing. The buildings around it were torn down in 1940 to create today’s square. From the end of the square we could see the city’s dense orange rooftops below.

The pelourinho in the square in front of the cathedral

The path we walked ran from Ribeira to the cathedral and then to the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge. There are also walking tours that cover the whole historic center.

A walking tour in Porto

A guided walk can tie these stops together. This tour includes a visit to Livraria Lello, and admission fees at other sights are usually extra.

Walking tourPorto 3-Hour Walking City Tour with Lello Bookstore VisitA guided walk through the old town; the Lello visit is part of the tourView on GetYourGuide →

Getting there

From the Ribeira waterfront we walked up the hill. Stairs and slopes keep coming, so pick a place to rest on the way. The cathedral stands on the hill right above the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge, so after seeing it you can cross to Gaia on the upper deck.

Tickets and hours

The nave is free. The cloister, museum and Episcopal Palace need separate tickets. Prices and hours are in the table in “Before you go” below.

How long we stayed

From arriving at the cathedral square to leaving the Episcopal Palace, we spent about 50 minutes.

Good to know

During Mass, the tower or some areas may be closed. The same official page lists Mass at 11 a.m.
The square in front of the cathedral is a viewpoint in itself, with a wide view over the city.

Dinner in Gaia: Mamma Bella and the riverside

This time we crossed the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge on foot into Gaia (Vila Nova de Gaia). On the winding way down from the high hill to the riverfront, orange-roofed houses and the view of Porto across the river followed us the whole way. On the Gaia hill we also saw the Gaia Cable Car (Teleférico de Gaia), which opened in April 2011 and is about 560 m (1,800 ft) long, going up and down toward the waterfront.

The riverfront seen from the upper deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge

The Douro and the cable car seen from the hill in Gaia

On the way down we went into an Italian restaurant, Mamma Bella, and had pizza and pasta for dinner. Colorful paintings hung on the walls, and the tables had bottles of spicy chili oil.

A bottle of spicy chili oil on the table

After dinner we walked down to the river. Rabelo boats, which once carried wine barrels, floated on the water. We waited for the clouds to clear until sunset, but our last evening sky stayed full of cloud.

A rabelo boat on the Gaia riverside, with Porto across the river

A Porto fado show on our last night

After dinner we took a taxi to the fado venue we had booked, A Casa do Fado São João Novo. According to the booking site, it stands on the site of the old pantry of the 16th-century São João Novo monastery church, in a semi-basement below the sacristy. Fado is a Portuguese popular music that began in 19th-century Lisbon. It often sings of saudade, a longing and wistfulness, and it was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2011. The singer is called a fadista, and the accompaniment comes from the Portuguese guitar (guitarra portuguesa), a 12-string, pear-shaped instrument, and a regular guitar (viola). People who had been to Portugal before had told us not to miss a fado show.

We arrived about 15 minutes before the show, but plenty of people were there already, so we sat fairly far back. Under the arched stone ceiling it felt cozy. During the show, the adults got a glass of port wine and our kid got bottled water. The venue told us we could take photos and videos freely.

The audience waiting under the stone-arched ceiling

A musician playing the Portuguese guitar (guitarra portuguesa)

A fadista singing with guitar accompaniment

The guitarists started first, and a good while later the singer, the fadista, walked in through the entrance and went up to the stage. Before the show our kid had been bouncing around, but after watching the beginning for a bit, our kid fell fast asleep. Later, reading the diary entry for that day, my wife and I laughed until we couldn’t breathe.

“First there were people playing guitars. They practiced for a long time. Suddenly a woman came in. I thought, ‘She is really late.’ But then after she got on the stage she sang so loudly my ears almost burst. To me it just sounded like this: ‘Aaaah ooo-ooo-aa-oo.’ But the sound was funny, so it was fun. (After that I slept.)”

To our kid, the guitar playing sounded like practice, and the singer who walked in from the entrance looked like an audience member who was late. Honestly, I had wondered the same thing at first. Our kid left out the part about falling asleep, and added it later in parentheses.

Even back home, our kid asked us to put on fado before bed. The songs are fairly calm and the lyrics are impossible to follow, so I can see how it makes you sleepy. It was a show that stuck with us.

We chose the date and time on a booking site. Some shows are staged as a talk or a concert.

Fado shows in Porto

The Casa do Fado show we booked, plus a concert with commentary and a show in a guitar shop. The venue and what is included vary by listing.

Casa do FadoPorto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port WineThe show we booked: one hour, hosted in English, with a glass of port wineView on GetYourGuide →Fado in the BaixaPorto: Authentic Live Fado Show with Port Wine near RibeiraOne hour at the Fado na Baixa auditorium, with video, an audio guide and a glass of portView on GetYourGuide →Guitar shop concertPorto: Intimate Live Fado at Casa da Guitarra and Port WineIncludes a glass of port wine or water; the host speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish and FrenchView on GetYourGuide →

Booking and price

We booked the Porto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port Wine, an English-language show, ahead of time: two adults and one kid, €38 in total, bought on March 28. It came to $41.20 charged to our card (March 2024).