The city of Porto is full of curiosities and stories to tell, but also of nooks and cran nies to explore. For example, do you know what the smallest street is? In this article that’s precisely what we’re talking about. But now it’s time to focus our attention on the city’s longest street.
Before we go any further, we would like to point out that for the purposes of this article, we have taken into account the distinction between avenue and street. According to Infopedia (Porto Editora online dictionary):
Avenida is a road that is wider than a street and whose carriageway usually has several lanes for automobile traffic.”
In this context, and although we know that Avenida da Boavista is the longest avenue in Porto, we consider the above definition to be a point of reference. That said, can you guess which street is the longest?
Rua Costa Cabral & a bit of history
Starting at Praça do Marquês and ending at Estrada da Circunvalação, in Areosa, Costa Cabral is the longest street in Porto with almost 4 km, connecting the parishes of Bonfim and Paranhos. Although it is not in the Baixa, this is also a historic street in the city.
In fact, the origin of this street is due to the need to connect the city of Porto and that of Guimarães during XIX. In this context, it was decided to replace and widen Rua do Lindo, whose starting point was next to the Marquês.
This is how Rua de Costa Cabral came to be. But there is another aspect to consider. What? Its name comes from António Bernardo Costa Cabral, a nobleman who played an important political role during the reign of Queen Maria II.
However, at the time, he was not a very popular figure among the people of Porto. So, for a while, the locals called this street “Estrada da Cruz das Regateiras”.
Points of interest on largest street
Along Rua de Costa Cabral, you can find several shops and even historic buildings.
There are other points of interest, but for now we’d like to highlight the following:
- Casa-Museu Fernando de Castro, one of the most eccentric places in Porto
- Conde Ferreira Hospital, the first psychiatric hospital in Portugal
- Former A Lealdade Tobacco Factory, among others.