Porto's main shopping drag is a bustling 1.5km (almost 1 mile) long. Most of it is pedestrian-only and covered with artful black-and-white paving stones. Shopaholics can find almost anything along Santa Catarina or the side streets running off it. There are big name European brands like Zara, H&M or FNAC, alongside venerable family stores selling everything from freshly baked bread to upmarket leather goods. Among the landmarks are the Majestic Café at No. 112, (www.cafemajestic.com, tel. 222 003 887), the chicest place for a cimbalino (as the people of Porto call a shot of espresso) since 1921. It's filled with gilt-framed mirrors, marble-topped tables and smiling plasterwork cherubs, and serves divine rabanadas—Porto's take on French toast. Continuing the old world charm is the Grande Hotel do Porto at No. 197. There are two stylish Art Nouveau corner shops guarding the southern entrance to the street beneath the azulejo-clad Church of Saint Ildefonso, and a modern shopping mall with a colorful facade at No. 312. The greatest gem on the street, however, is the Capela das Almas, at No. 428, a tiny church covered with tiles with such an intensity of blue they rival the summer sky. The church is from the 18th-century, but although painted in the Baroque style of that time, the tiles were actually added in 1929.
Porto
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Porto› Attraction
Rua de Santa Catarina
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Transportation
Metro: Bolhão
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