Stock Exchange Palace

The Palácio da Bolsa is located beside the St Francis Church of Porto, which was once part of the St Francis Convent, founded in the 13th century. In 1832, during the Liberal Wars, a fire destroyed the cloisters of the convent, sparing the church. In 1841, Queen Mary II donated the convent ruins to the merchants of the city, who decided to use the spot to build the seat of the Commercial Association.
Building work began in 1842 following the plans of Porto architect Joaquim da Costa Lima Júnior, who designed a Neoclassical palace of Palladian influence, inspired by previous structures built in the city. Most of the palace was finished by 1850, but the decoration of the interior was only completed in 1910 and involved several different artists.

See also   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A1cio_da_Bolsa


In our times it is used for cultural purposes and tourism, but also sometimes used for state visits.

A visit is highly recommended, particularly the Magnificent Moorish hall.

Entrance fees cost about 7 euros for students about 4 euros, it also has a luxury restaurant with menus from 20 or 29 euros.

The visiting hours are:

  April to October 9:00 to 18:30

  November to March: 09:00 to 12:30 and 14:00 to 5:30 p.m.



Here I leave a very interesting link where you can view images in 360 ° angle.

http://www.360portugal.com/Distritos.QTVR/Porto.VR/vilas.cidades/Porto/a3_palaciobolsa.html

The Luis I Bridge

The Luís I (or Luiz I) Bridge , is a metal arch bridge that spans the Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. At the time of construction its span of 172 m was the longest of its type in the world.


Often it is called the Eiffel Bridge, but in fact   Théophile Seyrig, a belgian engineer who worked with Gustav Eiffel until 1947, planned the project for the construction.

There is a myth saying that the bridge is called luiz, and not "Dom luiz "because the king had not appeared at the inauguration.

This building replaced the old suspension bridge called Pencil bridge.

The old Customs Office

 walking from the Ribeira in Porto  towards "Palácio da Bolsa" (Stock Exchange House), you quickly pass by the old customs house.

It is one of the oldest buildings in Porto, the birth place of Infante D Henrique (Henry the heir to the throne)

The building was built in 1325 as a warehouse  but it was considered the place to tax all arriving goods.

1990 were due to renovation work and excavations, evidence of Roman occupation have been found, among other Roman mosaics.

The customs office has to work until 19th century until it was finally replaced by the "new Customs office."

The Pencil bridge

The Suspension Bridge, officially called Ponte D. Maria II, was a suspended connecting the two banks of the Douro River between the city of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal Bridge.

Its construction was delivered to the French company Claranges Lucotte & Cie, owned by Count Claranges Lucotte, entering into the construction plan of the future road that would connect the Porto and Lisbon. The project was designed by the engineer Stanislas Bigot with the collaboration of the engineer José Vitorino Damásio. The Mellet and Amédée Carruette engineers collaborated during their construction.

The bridge was  opened without ceremony on 17 February 1843, during the occurrence of large floods of Douro that forced urgently to dismantle the Bridge of Boats.

 

 

 

Nowadays one can see the remains of the bridge next to the bridge  Dom luiz . The pillars of the ruin of the old guardhouse

There is a beautiful bar overlooking the river