Ribeira Riverside

About Ribeira Riverside

Ribeira is Porto's oldest quarter, a tangle of medieval alleys and tall, narrow houses stacked above the Douro. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 for its unbroken layout dating back to the Middle Ages. For centuries the quay (Cais da Ribeira) was the city's working waterfront, where flat-bottomed rabelo boats delivered barrels of Port wine down from the Douro Valley to the ageing cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia across the river. Today the same boats sit moored for photographs rather than cargo, and the arcaded houses that once belonged to merchants and fishermen are cafés and restaurants.