Ar De Rio is a poshly “containerized” restaurant along the banks of Vila Nova de Gaia. The name translates into roughly “Air of the River”, so it’s only apt that the glass facade provides some privacy and climate insulation for the diners, but the diners still enjoy the immersion of the environment of the riverfront. The quality of the food was good in 2017, less impress during a return visit in 2022.
Tag: Porto
Vila Nova de Gaia & Ribeira from Ponte Luís I
On the left (south) bank of the Duoro River, we have Vila Nova de Gaia and on the right, the Ribeira district of Porto City. Ribeira just means “riverside”, and is part of Porto City proper, while Vila Nova de Gaia (which translates into “New Town of Gaia” and Gaia itself has Celtic origins) is part of another administrative region. Once upon a time, the Duoro River formed the boundary between Muslim-conquered territory and Christian-defended territory, hence the distinction was inherited to modern times. Today, Gaia is famed for cellar where port wine is aged (and marketed) and is heavily touristed.
Casa da Música
To commemorate Porto’s designation as the European Capital of Culture in 2001, its first dedicated performance hall was commissioned and completed in 2005. The main performance hall had two walls made of glass, and the glass was made to be wavy in anticipation that it will diffuse unwanted sounds (but still did not live up to expectation due to the very hard nature of glass as a surface). A sheer screen later had to be added to try mitigate the acoustic issues of the design. Perhaps, an example of where an architect, in this case, Rem Koolhaas put form over function.
It was a rather gloomy and overcast day outside, hence I did not have a presentable exterior photo.