Towns & villages · 3 m above the sea
Zona Velha (Rua de Santa Maria)
200+ hand-painted doors turn a once-derelict lane into an open-air gallery.
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The place
Started in 2010 by local artist José Zyberchema to shame absentee landlords into restoring derelict buildings, the Arte de Portas Abertas project has covered roughly 200 doors on Rua de Santa Maria in changing street art. It's a living gallery — paintings fade and get replaced — so the street looks different year to year, and it works as well as a walk-through as it does a backdrop for the old town's espetada houses and poncha bars.
When to come
Early morning, before 9am, before restaurant terraces fill the cobbles and tour groups arrive
Worth knowing
- Free, always open — it's a public pedestrian street
- Runs between the Mercado dos Lavradores and Forte de São Tiago
- Combine with the market (5-min walk) and dinner at an old-town espetada house
- Doors rotate and fade — the mix changes from year to year