The Porto Brief, Week of 8 November 2026: An Ice Rink Date for Praça D. João I, Affordable Homes Go to Consultation, and FC Porto Beat Napoli 4-1

Welcome to the Porto Brief, your weekly view from the banks of the Douro. The council has given the housing camp on Praça D. João I a date for the Christmas ice rink, the affordable-housing row moves to a public consultation, and FC Porto finally won in the Champions League. Your roundup for 1 to 8 November.

Praça D. João I: an ice rink due on 13 November

The council confirmed on Friday that work to assemble the traditional Christmas ice rink on Praça D. João I starts on 13 November, on the square in front of the Rivoli where the housing camp has stood since 10 October. In an email dated 4 November, Pedro Duarte asked the protesters for the third time to say when they would meet him, to "reconcile" the right to protest with the Christmas events, and proposed a wider open forum on housing. The camp turned down a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, citing the latest police charge.

The camp is digging in: on Friday it put up a steel-cabled tarpaulin and four large tents for its assembly, kitchen and first-aid post, though the tarp came down in Friday night's heavy rain. The wider Christmas programme starts on 28 November at 18:00, when the lights go on along Avenida dos Aliados and the tree is lit on Praça do General Humberto Delgado. The council puts the lights at a maximum of 765,000 euros, 65,000 more than last year.

Affordable homes: from a climbdown to a consultation

On Tuesday the executive reversed its 20 October decision to let seven developers pay about 1.39 million euros instead of providing affordable homes. The Socialists have since called off the extraordinary municipal assembly they had requested for 9 November, and Duarte says he will bring a proposal to open the new inclusive-zoning rules to public consultation at the next executive meeting. Under the new rules hotels and short-term lets would also have to contribute; the majority says the current regime has produced no affordable home since 2021. Separately, the old Salgueiros football ground is earmarked for housing.

Rents are also the backdrop to the Hazrat Hamza mosque's search for a home. Its lease on Rua do Loureiro ended on 31 October, and the landlord, the Livraria Lello group, has offered it 14 more months rent-free, with four more if needed. The Bangladeshi community association says there is no affordable space in the Baixa, where a one-bedroom flat can cost 1,200 euros a month.

FC Porto: a first Champions League win, then Guimarães

After three defeats in three, FC Porto beat Napoli 4-1 at the Dragão on Wednesday. Bednarek headed the opener, McTominay equalised before the break, and Gabri Veiga, Kiwior and a late Samu penalty settled it. Tonight at 18:00 the league leaders, on 30 points and five clear, play Vitória SC at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques (Sport TV1); the away allocation sold out in hours. The international break follows. Indoors, Portugal's handball team beat Switzerland 33-28 in a full Super Bock Arena, their first match in the city in 32 years.

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Getting around

Wednesday's deals between the council and Infraestruturas de Portugal, on running the VCI, two outer ring roads, the Circunvalação and tram-style lines for Campo Alegre and Casa da Música to the Asprela, are in our report. Closer to the kerb, a revised plan for Rua de Guerra Junqueiro cuts 54 parking spaces, widens the pavements by 627 square metres and adds a two-way cycle lane. From tomorrow, 9 November, the second phase of the Azevedo works in Campanhã begins: two years and more than two million euros for wider pavements, with bus diversions to be announced. At the airport, TAP now flies Porto to Sal in Cabo Verde on Thursdays and Sundays at 20:50.

Around the city

Sixteen defendants, among them three council planning officers, stayed silent as their corruption trial opened on Wednesday; prosecutors say the officers fast-tracked 12 planning cases in return for cash or favours, in a case linked to Gaia's Operação Babel. The showers at the Escola Secundária de Gondomar are shut after legionella was found; classes go on, with no one ill. Águas e Energia do Porto has cleaned 21,762 drains this year ahead of the rains. Also this week: IGAS faults Santo António, a Perafita block at risk of collapse, care workers march for pay and ECCO closes its Feira factory.

What's on, and the weather

The Porto Marathon runs today from 08:00 by the Sea Life, with 15,000 entrants from 104 countries, so expect closures in the west of the city, Matosinhos and Gaia. Tonight at 18:00 Bruno Pernadas closes the Porto Sounds Secret series with a free concert at the Escola Secundária Garcia de Orta (enter from Rua de Pinho Leal). At the Casa da Música, Rodrigo Cuevas plays on Tuesday at 21:30 (25 euros), and the weekend takes the Amazon as its theme: Floresta do Amazonas on Saturday at 18:00 (36 to 40 euros) and Fafá de Belém with Zaynara next Sunday at 20:30 (26 to 30 euros). Tony Carreira plays the Super Bock Arena and Pedro Abrunhosa the Póvoa Arena, both on Saturday. At the Casa do Infante, Victor Torpedo's photographs of the Tédio Boys' 1997 American tour close on 22 November.

The week is wet. IPMA forecasts rain every day, heaviest on Monday with thunderstorms, and highs of 22 degrees today falling to 18 by Thursday. A yellow warning for rough seas, with south-westerly waves of four to five metres, covers the Porto coast from 21:00 on Monday to 15:00 on Tuesday: keep off sea walls and piers.

That's the Porto Brief for this week. See you next Sunday.

Feature image: aerial view of the Ponte da Arrábida over the Douro, Porto, by Ion Tichy, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.