Mercado Ferreira Borges — Attraction in Porto

While I think it was once a main market at this location in this historical building, it is not really what I would consider to be a "market" anymore. There are a handful of vendors and restrooms. Other than that, I don't really understand what all the hype is about. It is an interesting building architecturally, but not very functional other than surviving as a relic from days gone by. On a positive note, the restroom was very clean once I was able to locate it, and the cleaning staff was also very active and diligently maintaining a hospitable environment for its visitors. It also felt very safe and did not seem to attract shifty looking characters. All in all, now that I have "toured" the building, I would have to say that it is not what many would consider to be a tourist...

The building dates from 1885. The architecture is very nice and the red structure catches your eye. This is what attracted us and made us want to see what was inside.

There's not a lot going on inside, which was disappointing. There's a bar and toilet. Apparently there's a club here but we didn't see it.

It's also a cultural centre and concert hall. Looks like they occasionally host exhibitions. There's also stalls where traders sell handmade items, but none open when we visited on a Wednesday afternoon.

Not worth going out of your way to visit and certainly no need to go inside. Best seen from the outside.

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Our experience with this market was confusing! We ran into this market on a Monday (might be closed on Mondays?) and we couldn’t understand what it was supposed to be (food market, shops, artisan shops). Anyways, there were no signs saying anything about times or days it’s operating, I went upstairs to have a look, apparently there’s a restaurant but it was too hot to stay there so we left! Downstairs right in front of the main door there’s a drinks bar. I wouldn’t recommend going without finding out operating days and times first as it doesn’t seem to be operating...