Vila do Conde
Vila do Conde is a city in the Douro Litoral region of Northern Portugal.
Get around
It's small enough to walk around.
See
- This is not a town on the main trail for foreign tourists but it's no worse for that. It has long been connected with lace-making and there's an interesting museum.
- The old part of the town is fascinating and it is still a minor port.
- There is a disproportionately large Friday market.
- The most interesting tourist sight is probably the Convento de Santa Clara, later a school for delinquent boys. You may need to knock but then a guide will take you for a tour. A small fountain in a courtyard is fed by a narrow channel from a very long aqueduct, seen stretching away into the hills.
- Vila do Conde was a very important shipyard in the first decades of the Maritime Discoveries. You can see and visit a replica of a Portuguese "Nau" (a big seafaring ship from the 15th/16th century, bigger than the caravelle, smaller than the galleon) by the riverside. If you arrive by the bridge from the south, the "Nau" is easily visible on the docks by your left.
Beaches.
Do
Buy
- South of Vila do Conde (near Mindelo) there is an outlet (Style Outlet, a.k.a. 'Nassica') where you can buy some of the best Portuguese products (shoes, clothing, bags) and find some interesting foreign brands at a reasonable price. Spanish tourists are very common customers there.
Eat
- Vila do Conde, like any Portuguese fishing village, has very good restaurants, especially the old, typical ones. Expect good fresh fish, big steaks, and reasonable prices.
Drink
Sleep
Connect
Go next
Porto; Povoa de Varzim.
If you follow the main street in Vila do Conde, you will find yourself in Povoa do Varzim without noticing anything different. Both were fishing villages that grew side by side, until they "touched" each other. No "borders" are visible.
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