{"id":222,"date":"2015-11-13T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T09:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/38.242.230.232\/~portoalities\/?p=222"},"modified":"2021-05-13T08:50:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T08:50:17","slug":"what-is-the-future-of-bolhaos-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portoalities.com\/en\/what-is-the-future-of-bolhaos-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of Bolh\u00e3o market in Porto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I write a story I always think how I can bring people into it: I impersonate the life of a historical character, I ask locals how they feel about a particular event, I wonder how ancient people used a particular building. It is not enough to bring facts to the table; people must be on it too, colouring my stories with their dreams, hopes and opinions. People are indeed a key point in the life of a city and I wanted this to be reflected on Portoalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"P1080551\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"P1080479\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"fruit
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So when I started writing about Bolh\u00e3o market in Porto I didn\u2019t know what story I wanted to tell, but I knew where I could get my inspiration from: the vendors that work every day inside this century-old market, opened in 1914.
That was when I came across Hugo and Patr\u00edcia, a lovely couple that has a fantastic wine house dedicated to products from Douro valley.<\/a>
\"bolhao
<\/a>      Their story begun in 1930s: it was when Hugo\u2019s grandmother, Maria Guilhermina, started selling flowers in the market.
Back then, there were no public transports so she and her mother used to carry flower baskets on their back all the way from Vila Nova de Gaia.
It was a hard journey for a 7 year old girl, but it paid off. After all, Bolh\u00e3o was the main market in Porto, supplying not only this city but also major cities on the Northern region, such as Braga, Guimar\u00e3es and Santo Tirso.
The market opened at 7h but, at this hour, already half of the day\u2019s business would already have been sealed on the nearby streets, where vendors where waiting for the gates to open.
People would come from very far away with their egg baskets and their empty milk bottles. They would buy fresh vegetables and fruits for the entire week. And they would wait patiently for their turn on the live poultry stores, for the chickens and rabbits being killed on the slaughterhouse inside the market.
Such busy times proved good to Guilhermina and throughout the years she acquired two stores inside the market. Being a small family business, she brought one of her daughters, Maria Albertina, to help her on the flower shops.
\u201cI was a bit lazy with studies so I started coming to Bolh\u00e3o with my mum when I was around 9 years old. When I was 18 I started working there permanently\u201d says Maria Albertina, always with a busy pair of hands and a shy smile on her face.
\u201cI only left Bolh\u00e3o in 2006. Business had been deteriorating, with the rise of shopping malls and supermarket chains. Moreover, it was forbidden to park outside the market, so people didn\u2019t come as often as it was rather inconvenient. And it was around that time that the town hall advised us to leave the market as it was in risk of collapse\u201d. Maria Albertina took the decision to leave the market and open a flower shop just across the street, where she works nowadays.
The stores that Guilhermina owns inside Bolh\u00e3o were closed, being used solely as warehouses. Hugo, Maria Albertina\u2019s son, together with his wife Patricia, always wanted to bring back to life one of the family stores and for years they kept trying to pass it from Guilermina\u2019s name to Hugo\u2019s without success.
After 6 years, the town hall allowed them to change the commercial activity of the store and they were finally able to make their dream come true. And so they opened Bolh\u00e3o wine house<\/a>, which combines the atmosphere of an ancient flower shop with the trendiness of a modern wine house.
Not only were they able to open a \u201cnew\u201d place inside the market, they also became part of this family of vendors that has been together for decades. As much as they can, they buy the products they serve on their wine house from other vendors, as they want everyone to profit from their operation. And, if you can find a product inside the market that they don\u2019t sell in their wine house \u2013 let\u2019s say, a specific cheese-, they allow you to bring it and enjoy it there. How cool is that?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"bolhao
Photo by Nuno Cruz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The market is a totally different place than what it used to be during Guilermina, Maria Albertina and even Hugo\u2019s childhood \u2013 it desperately needs renovation, both in terms of physical structure and functionality, as it no longer serves the needs of a crazy-working-hours population that prefers to do their weekly shopping on supermarkets.
The market was even in danger of being transformed into a luxury hotel | offices, but fortunately the population of Porto prevented this from happening, as Bolh\u00e3o market is key to our local culture. There is no other place that keeps Porto spirit alive as Bolh\u00e3o market; no other place where you meet tripeiros<\/em> in their purest form.
The current Mayor, Rui Moreira, recently presented a new solution: Bolh\u00e3o market in Porto will have a covered ground floor, where the fresh market, butchers and fishmongers will be installed. The curtains that nowadays sellers run on the first floor, to protect fresh products from the sunlight, will continue to be there, although it is expected that they will protect people who set up the terraces of the restaurants that should be born in South wing of this floor. In the North wing there will be multipurpose structures that can receive both seasonal markets, educational activities and other purposes.
Nuno Valentim, the architect in charge, says that “we will be absolutely caring for a building that is singular,” stressing that the renovation project is based on three areas: “the building, the market and people.”\"P1080459\"<\/a>
I must say that I have great faith in this \u201chybrid\u201d project for Bolh\u00e3o market in Porto. When it comes through, I believe it will reach a good balance between keeping the original spirit of the market alive (with the vendors on the ground floor) and bringing new customers and functions to the market (with the restaurants on the first floor). And this is absolutely necessary: in order to survive, structures need to adapt, to reconquer their space in the lives of people.
And, while I am enjoying a glass of Moscatel do Douro at Bolh\u00e3o\u2019s wine house, having a chat with Hugo and looking at Guilermina\u2019s picture hanging on the hall, I can only smile and hope that I will soon see this historical market back to its glory days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I write a story I always think how I can bring people into it: I impersonate the life of\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[83,85,20,88],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tourist_attractions","tag-bolhao-market","tag-market","tag-shopping","tag-traditional-food"],"yoast_head":"\nThe story of Bolh\u00e3o market in Porto | Blog Portoalities: Travel blog and Private tours in Porto and Douro Valley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the story of the iconic Bolh\u00e3o market in Porto, and the plans for its renovation, that shall be completed by 2021.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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