Vila Nova de Gaia


Vila Nova de Gaia, or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population of 178,255 in 2001. The municipality has an area of 168.46 km². and a total population of 302,295 inhabitants, making it the most populous municipality in Norte Region. Gaia along with Porto and 12 other municipalities make up the commonly designated Porto Metropolitan Area.
The city contains many cellars where port wine is stored and aged. These cellars have become a major tourist attraction.

History

Vila Nova de Gaia already existed under the Roman Empire as the city of Cale. It developed most likely from a preexistent Celtic Castro, or Neolithic settlement. The origin of the name Cale is likely Celtic, from the root "Gall-" with which Celts referred to themselves, similarly to Galicia, Gaul or Galway.
The river itself has a Celtic name, Douro after Celtic "dwr", deep water, water or river. In Roman times the bulk of the population probably lived south of the river Douro, and on the north side, there was a smaller settlement around the deep water port which now is the Ribeira neighbourhood of Porto. The name of Porto, in high medieval times Portus Cale, thus stood for the harbour of the city of Cale. With the important trade of the river Douro, which is easily navigable up to the Régua deep inland, the Porto part of the city came to overgrow Cale, and became the most important part of town, where the Bishopric and the merchants were established.
With the Moorish invasions in the eighth century, the de facto frontier between the Islamic state and the Christian one came to rest for a considerable period of time on the river Douro. With the constant raids and counter-raids, the town of Cale, or Gaia, was deserted and most of its inhabitants took refuge in Porto in the North side of the river. It is in this period, the tenth century, that the late medieval Lenda de Gaia is set.
After the conquest and pacification of the southern side of the Douro river after 1035, with the exodus or expulsion of the Muslim populations, leaving behind semi-abandoned fertile lands, colonists from the north settled in exchange for better feudal contracts with the newly appointed lords. These migrants refounded the old city of Cale or Gaia under the name of Vila Nova de Gaia around the old castle and ruins of "old Gaia".
The name of the double city of Porto and Gaia was frequently referred to in contemporary documents as "villa de Portucale", and the county of the Kingdom of León which was centered on it was named Condado Portucalense. This county was eventually expanded and after gaining its independence, became the Kingdom of Portugal.

Parishes

Administratively, the municipality is divided into 15 civil parishes :
ParishPopulationArea
Arcozelo14,3528.50
Avintes11,4978.82
Canelas13,4596.90
Canidelo27,7698.93
Grijó e Sermonde11,93812.99
Gulpilhares e Valadares22,01910.61
Madalena10,0404.69
Mafamude e Vilar do Paraíso52,42210.58
Oliveira do Douro22,3837.54
Pedroso e Seixezelo20,42620.88
Sandim, Olival, Lever e Crestuma17,16834.16
Santa Marinha e São Pedro da Afurada33,7146.91
São Félix da Marinha12,7067.93
Serzedo e Perosinho14,25011.97
Vilar de Andorinho18,1557.07

The parish Santa Marinha e São Pedro da Afurada contains the city centre of Vila Nova de Gaia.

Coat of arms and flag

The coat of arms consists of a grey crest with two golden-yellow bunches of grapes on the bottom with a black castle over the water, and with a person blowing the horn. The grapes intend to represent the city's connection with the wine industry, mainly Port wine, whose cellars are in the lower part of the city.
The flag is colored dark yellow to black in four each.

Leisure

Beaches

Vila Nova de Gaia is the Portuguese municipality with the biggest number of Blue Flag beaches in 2009 and in 2010: 17 beaches along 17 km of seaside. Some popular beaches are: Miramar, Granja, Aguda, Valadares, Francelos, Madalena and Canidelo.Praia da Granja is a FEE Blue Flag beach in the parish of São Félix da Marinha. This area was a farm in the 18th century belong to the Grijó Monastery and used as a rest place of monks and priests.

Parks and gardens

There are also Dunes Park, Botanical Park of Castelo, Camelias Garden, Streams of Gaia, Maria Pia Bridge Park in Vila Nova de Gaia.

Tourism

The city attracts a great number of tourists for its different points of interest and the wine cellars are considered to be a must-see in any trip to area of Porto.

Museums

House-Museum Teixeira Lopes| Diogo de Macedo Gallery (Casa-Museu Teixeira Lopes

Gallery


Sister City

Vila Nova de Gaia is twinned with:
Concord, United States of America