Baixa do Porto

Downtown in Porto is composed by snaky streets almost entirely devoted to commerce; it’s an authentically shopping centre in the open. The centre of all this agitation is Santa Catarina Street, invaded every day by a sea of people, searching for something to buy or just looking around the latest fashion on the show-case. It is also here that you can find the most typical and oldest confectioner’s and cafés in Porto, which were once the stage for lively literary assemblies. Good examples to visit are the Majestic Café, Ateneia confectioner and the recent reopened Brasileira Café (now named Il Caffe di Roma, although it keeps the original sketch). Downtown is also the location for old libraries and small second-hand booksellers that work side by side with modern and big libraries.
With the day almost ending and shops closing for the night, the bubbly transfers to the theatres and playhouses that are nearby such as Rivoli Theatre, Coliseu do Porto and São Joãqo National Theatre.