Porto Travel Guide

Portugal's second-largest city, with a population of roughly 250,000, considers itself the north's capital and, more contentiously, the country's economic center. Locals support this claim by quoting a typically down-to-earth maxim: "Coimbra sings, Braga prays, Lisbon shows off, and Porto works." There's poverty here, of course, primarily down by the river in the ragged older areas, parts of which are positively medieval. But in the shopping centers, the stately old stock exchange building, and the port-wine trade, Porto oozes confidence.