Location
The District of Oporto (Porto, in Portuguese) is located on the North West coast of Portugal. The district's capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country.
Description
Due to its economic output and market size, the greater Porto area is one of the major financial and economic centers of the Northwestern quarter of the Iberian Peninsula. Porto's municipality is the core of a large Northern Atlantic conurbation, and Porto district is one of the most industrialized districts of Portugal.
The landscape is dominated by the coast line, the Douro River, and a mix of granite and green fields, with vestiges of ancient human occupation throughout the district.
Porto district has a large number of religious monuments, usually rich and well preserved. Considered “Capital of the north” of Portugal, the city of Porto is the district's highlight, its historic centre was in recent years recognised as a World Heritage Site, by UNESCO.
Gastronomy
One of Portugal's most internationally famous products, Port wine, was named after the city as its export origin, more precisely, from Vila Nova de Gaia, a city just across the river which belongs to the same conurbation. It is a sweet Portuguese fortified wine from the Douro Valley in the Northern provinces of Portugal. It is often served as a dessert wine.
The gastronomy of Porto includes fish and seafood from the coast and tasty meat from the Eastside of the district. Make a «Portonic» (a mixture of Port and tonic water) as an aperitif and start your meal with a characteristic Caldo Verde broth. This, the most popular soup in Portugal, has round slices of chouriço, with stuffed or smoked sausages.
One of the most famous dishes in Porto is Francesinha (meaning Little French Girl in English) a Portuguese dish originating from Porto, made with wet-cured ham, linguiça, fresh sausage like chipolata, steak or roast meat and covered with melted cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce (it is said that you can only find a proper Francesinha in Porto, even though nowadays you can find it anywhere else in the country).
Other traditional ingredients of this region are pork (sausages and ham), codfish, octopus and sardines.
