A working railway station whose entrance hall is a gallery of blue-and-white tiles. Free, central and on the way to everywhere: the best introduction to Portugal's azulejo art.
São Bento was built on the site of a Benedictine convent and opened in 1916, designed by the Porto architect José Marques da Silva in a Beaux-Arts style.
Its entrance hall is lined with some 20,000 azulejos painted by Jorge Colaço between 1905 and 1916. The great panels show battles, royal arrivals and weddings from Portuguese history.
Above them runs a coloured frieze of everyday life in the north: the grape harvest, ox carts, mills, markets and boats on the Douro.
Entry is free; it is a working station, so you share the hall with commuters. Trains to the Douro valley leave from these platforms.
Half an hour, and the start of a walking day.
Stand back on the square for the station's mansard roofs and clock.
Walk slowly round the four walls of large blue scenes.
Harvest, carts, mills and river boats in a band of colour.
Check the board for the Douro line, the scenic route to Pinhão.
Cross to the tiled façade of the church opposite, the start of a tiles walk.
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Metro São Bento (line D) is right outside; it is a five-minute walk from Aliados or the Sé.
Regional trains run up the valley to Régua and Pinhão; buy at the counter or machines.
The Sé is up the hill behind; Clérigos and Lello are five minutes west.
Porto practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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