Dom Luis Bridge over the Douro River in Porto (Portugal) painted by Julio Costa

Next to the Douro River lived long time ago a giant, always amused by playing dice. One night the giant dreamed that a man dressed in white, with a white beard, appeared to him and asked him to go down to the mouth of the river to build several churches there. "When you wake up take your dice throw them from the highest hill." Where the dice fall, churches must be built. The numbers on their faces will represent the number of blue and white tiles with which they will be decorated. So now, where they fell, are today the churches and monasteries of the city of Porto.

Legend of Porto

Ponte Arrábida over the Douro River in Porto (Portugal)

“If there is one portion of Europe which was made by the sea more than another, Portugal is that slice, that portion, that belt. Portugal was made by the Atlantic.”

Hilaire Belloc

Arrábida Bridge crossing the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

"There is on every river that special place made for a bridge to be built on. What one needs is to find it."

Edgar Cardoso,

builder of this bridge

Dom Luis Bridge over the Douro River in Porto (Portugal)

....
Deixarão prolongar os horizontes
Até onde se extinga a cor da vida.
Por isso, é devagar que se aproxima
Da bem-aventurança.
É lentamente que o rabelo avança
Debaixo dos seus pés de marinheiro.
E cada hora a mais que gasta no caminho
É um sorvo a mais de cheiro
A terra e a rosmaninho!

End of the poem Rio Douro 

by Dórdio Gomes 

Dom Luis I Bridge over the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

"The city of Oporto, built along the hillsides overlooking the mouth of the Douro river, is an outstanding urban landscape with a 2,000-year history. Its continuous growth, linked to the sea (the Romans gave it the name Portus, or port), can be seen in the many and varied monuments, from the cathedral with its Romanesque choir, to the neoclassical Stock Exchange and the typically Portuguese Manueline-style Church of Santa Clara."

Historic Centre of Oporto 

as UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ponte Dom Luis over the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

Quem vem e atravessa o rio

Junto à serra do Pilar

vê um velho casario

que se estende até ao mar

Quem te vê ao vir da ponte

és cascata são-joanina

erigida sobre um monte

no meio da neblina.

Por ruelas e calçadas

da Ribeira até à Foz

por pedras sujas e gastas

e lampiões tristes e sós

Porto Sentido
Song by Rui Veloso

Dom Luis I Bridge over the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

Ver o Porto é evocar certa forma de cidade escondida que conservamos dentro de nós, densa, inpenetrável, como a neblina envolvendo as manhãs e fundindo o rio com os cais e os barcos. Ilusão de sombras irreais. Transparências. Crepúsculos caindo,suaves, recortando a leveza das pontes, a elegância das torres, os contornos do casario.

Helder Pacheco

Dom Luis I Bridge over the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

Porto é cidade, és reino encantado

Porto também és grande no fado

Vai da ponte velha aos lados da foz

Verás que tripeiro põe alma na voz

Lyrics from a fado

Miguel Bandeirinha

Dom Luis I Bridge over the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

Douro, que bordando viñas
vas a la mar prisionero,
y coges de paso al Támega,
de hondas s audades cuévano.
En su Foz Oporto sueña
con el Urbión altanero;
Soria en su sobremeseta,
con la mar toda sendero.

Miguel de Unamuno

Dom Luis I Bridge over the Douro River between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal)

LONGEST ARCH BRIDGE IN THE WORLD FROM 1886 TO 1898