Matosinhos borders Porto to the north and is about twenty minutes from the centre by metro. It is a fishing and port town, home to Leixões, one of the country's most important ports, but it is best known for two things: grilled fish and architecture.
The fish
In the streets near the harbour, especially Rua Heróis de França and around, dozens of restaurants grill freshly landed fish outdoors on large charcoal braziers: sardines in summer, sea bream, sea bass, sole, turbot, octopus, squid and shellfish. For many Porto residents, coming to Matosinhos for a fish lunch is a ritual.
Álvaro Siza
Matosinhos is the birthplace of Álvaro Siza, Portugal's most celebrated architect, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1992. Here, at Leça da Palmeira on the north side of the harbour, are two of his earliest works, now national monuments: the Casa de Chá da Boa Nova (1963), a tea house, now a restaurant, set among the rocks by the sea, and the Piscinas das Marés (1966), seawater pools carved among the rocks, open in summer, a masterpiece of architecture blending with landscape. In Leixões harbour stands the modern cruise terminal, a white spiralling building opened in 2015.
The beach
The long Matosinhos beach is very popular and, thanks to its regular waves, is one of the most popular places to learn to surf in northern Portugal. Above a roundabout on the seafront floats She Changes, a large net sculpture by American artist Janet Echelman, inspired by fishermen's nets.
Surroundings
Inland is the Leça do Balio monastery, a fortified Gothic church of the Knights Hospitaller, where in 1372 King Fernando married Leonor Teles. In late May and June the town celebrates the feast of Senhor de Matosinhos, one of the largest religious festivals in the north. Matosinhos is very close to Porto airport.