Porto

Porto (in English also Oporto; Portuguese pron. IPA ['poɾtu]), formerly Portucale, population 263,000 in 15 parishes, with 1,551,950 in the Porto Metropolitan Area, is Portugal's second largest city. It is the seat of the Porto district and capital of the Norte region. It is situated in the north of the country, on the northern bank of the Douro River, just in from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Porto has a type of mediterranean climate, although its influenced by a cooler breeze from the Atlantic which make it distinguishably cooler than other Mediterranean climate cities but nonetheless during the peak of the Summer, epecially in August, temperatures can reach 40ºC.

The country of Portugal and Port Wine (Portuguese: Vinho do Porto) owe their names to the city of Porto.

One of Portugal's most internationally appreciated products is Port Wine. Its name comes from the fact that it ages in cellars in Porto's southern sister city Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the river Douro. Port Wine gets its distinctive taste from brandy that is added during the fermentation process. This additive causes fermentation to stop, allowing for much of the sweetness of the grape to remain intact. The results of this process were discovered quite by accident by British traders who added the brandy to the wine simply to fortify it for long sea voyages back to England.

Porto is the heart of Greater Porto agglomeration. It is also one of the most industrialised districts in Portugal and the city of Porto in particularly is occasionally called "A capital do norte" (English: "The Capital of the North"), for it serves as the center of the more industrialised (but relatively poorer) northern region of Portugal, and is well known for its enterprising spirit, characteristic culture, people, and local cuisine.

UNESCO - Porto was declared a World Heritage Site because:
"The site is of outstanding universal value as the urban fabric and its many historic buildings bear remarkable testimony to the development over the past thousand years of a European city that looks outward to the west for its cultural and commercial links."