São Bento Station

São Bento Station is the first sightseeing in Porto you discover in case you arrive by train. This is a fascinating representative of French Beaux-Arts architecture and one of the most beautiful railway stations in the world. It is worth the visit due to its outstanding atrium inside and exceptional azulejo works.

According to the architectural style architect José Marques da Silva chose, the building is geometrically correct and includes two big volumes decorated with architrave cornices and repeated elaborated fenestrations. It impresses from outside with its massive and highly deliberate garnishes. However, the interior will surprise you in a different way.

São Bento Station walls are covered with approximately 20 thousand azulejo tiles. Thus they present a variety of episodes from household life and battles from Medieval times to modern. It took 11 years for Jorge Colaço to complete all pictures. Here you will find countryside scenes, the evolution of transport forms, kings and navigators in their armor defeating the enemy. One of them is Infante D. Henrique, who conquered the Moors in the 15th century.

Compositions comprise traditional blue and white tiles, multicolored paintings, and achromatic works as well. Such an amazing interior makes you feel every epoch of Portuguese history live. Moreover, on the ceiling of the São Bento station, you will still find two words for the navigation of travelers at the beginning of the 20th century. Douro and Minho are two rivers located on each side of the city. This way people would know which direction they had to keep going.

How to get there:

You will find the train station down the main street Av. dos Aliados in the very center of the historical city.

• By bus: 910, 500
• By metro: Batalha Station

→ Free walking tour in the city of Porto ←