Portugal, Vila Nova de Gaia

Vila Nova de Gaia, or simply Gaia is a city in Portugal. It is located in the Porto district, south of the city of Porto on the other side(south) of the river Douro. The city proper has a population of 178,255 and the municipality contains 24 parishes with a total population of 288,749 inhabitantes, being the most populated municipality in Norte region. Gaia together with Porto and other 12 municipalities makes up the commonly designated Porto Metropolitan Area.

It is also well known for its "lodges" (locally known as "caves") where the world famous Port wine is stored and aged. The lodges have become a major tourist attraction.

History

Vila Nova de Gaia already existed under the Roman Empire as the city of Cale. It developed most likely from a preexistent Celtic Castro, or Neolithic settlement. The origin of the name Cale (or Gale, since in Classical Latin there was not always a clear distinction between the letters "g" and "c") is likely Celtic, from the root "Gall-" with which Celts referred to themselves, similarly to Galicia, Gaul or Galway.

The name of Porto, in high medieval times Portus Cale, thus stood for the harbour ("portus" in Latin) of the city of Cale. With the important trade of the river Douro, which is easily navigable up to the Régua deep inland, the Porto part of the city came to overgrow Cale, and became the most important part of town, where the Bisphoric and the merchants were established.

With the moorish invasions in the eighth century A.D., the de facto frontier between the Islamic state and the Christian one came to rest for a considerable period of time on the river Douro, around the year 1000.

The name of the double city of Oporto and Gaia was frequently referred to in contemporary documents as "villa de Portucale", and the county of the Kingdom of Leon which was centered around it was named Portucalense.

In June 30, 1989, Pedroso became a village On July 12, 2004, Crestuma, Lever, Olival, Perosinho, Sandim, São Félix da Marinha and Serzedo became villages too.