Palacio da Bolsa, Porto

The Bolsa Palace is set right in Porto downtown. It was built in 19c by the Porto Commerce Chamber with the idea to impress foreign traders and investors, as for centuries Porto was a huge and important trade hub. I was hesitating if to visit this palace, but having missed it 9 years ago when I was here I decided to go. Luckily, waiting time for the next tour was only around 15 min and they had available tickets for English tour (you cannot visit without the tour). Considering the palace, there are 3 impressive places: 1. the main hall with State coats of arms of the states Porto dealt business with, 2. the hall after the stairway which is beautifully hand carved in granite and 3. the last golden Arabic room which is really stunning. All other rooms are very average - you see much better in palaces throughout Europe. However, the biggest drawback was a tour guide herself - a young lady trying to be interesting, but speaking so loud and with such a heavy accent. I was struggling to understand her with that accent, and at the same time her loud voice echoed in those big spaces, so around the half I got tired from that. To conclude, go for the tour if you haven't seen many palace like edifices and if there isn't a long waiting time for your language tour.

I had pre booked 'tickets' but still needed to queue to have them printed into 'proper' tickets. This took about 30 minutes due to long queues at the ticket office. The tour itself was good but there was clearly more to observe which we didn't. However, Tour guide was fabulous. She was very knowledgeable, friendly, concise and approachable. Best guide I've experienced in 7 years. Beautiful building. Worth visiting.