For everyone who is planning a 2 or 3 day trip to Porto, or even for those, who make a stopover, you here the temptation to immerse yourself in a bygone era full of luxury, and that temptation is called Café Majestic.
This central café was one of the icons of Porto for those social elites of the early 20th century. In the beginning its name was exactly this, Café Majestic, a place that tried to imitate the most elite coffee shops in Paris at the turn of the century, where meetings of the most influential figures in politics, science and the arts were held. Here, in the north of Portugal, they also had a lot of things to talk about sheltered from the rain, so it was a very busy place at first. However, in the second half of the century, the business stopped being profitable, being abandoned until it was decided to get it back.
When the cafe returned to operation, Porto was no longer what it had been, a thriving industrial city of liberal elites who cultivated the sciences and the arts, but a depressed city in a country with a badly damaged economy. It was necessary to wait for the tourist strength of Portugal so that this café would once again have all its splendour, not just for its magnificent facade preserved in art noveau style, but for something that has more to do with magic.
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In the 1990s, Harry Potter’s adventure writer, J.K. Rowling, lived in Porto and frequented many places in the city. It is said that she began to write the book here, on a napkin. However, it is so far from the truth, being that just a part of urban legends. The napkins of the majestic were made of fabric, so that an anonymous person like her at the time did something like that seems unthinkable, in fact, she has denied it. Now, the fame of the book and its excellent decoration have made the coffee have queues to enter, yes, despite its prices, since the coffee is around 5 euros. It is also true that traveling through time must be paid.
If you want to know this and other stories of Porto on your visit, join us on the free tour and do not miss any detail of the curiosities that the undefeated city keeps.
