Cafés do Porto

We can consider the golden age of cafes in Porto to be the period from the third decade of the 19th century until the end of the 1940s. The peak occurred between the 1920s and 1940s of the latter century, with the emergence and high point of grand cafes such as Chave D’Ouro, Excelsior, Majestic, Sport, Astória, Guarany, Imperial, Suisso, Monumental, Palladium, Avenida, Rialto, and Aviz – spaces still remembered with fondness by older generations who, perhaps unknowingly at the time, were quite happy there. From the 1950s onwards, cafes were no longer so luxurious or imposing; even so, some of them marked their time and left an indelible impression on those who frequented them. We are talking about cafes like Estrela, Embaixador, and Aviz, perhaps the most important born in that era…