Praça do Almada

In 1791, by the royal provision of Queen Mary I, the old Campo da Calçada became the civic center, initially named Praça Nova, or the New Square in English.

The Calçada or Pavement was one of the exits of the urban core of Póvoa de Varzim in the 16th century, at the time the town was centered on Praça Velha, the Old Square.

The development of Póvoa de Varzim as an important fishery community in the 18th century prompted the royal provision by Queen Mary I.

Work started in the year 1793 and, shortly after, became the new economic center of Póvoa de Varzim where the markets and fairs had been transferred.

The meeting and leisure usefulness of the square was favored by the raising of the arches of the new town hall building, as it protected people from the weather.

In 1906, to celebrate the birth of one of the greatest writers in the Portuguese language,[5] a crowds gathers around the house, and a bronze plate, by Master Teixeira Lopes, is placed.

The building of the City Hall (1791), located in the north section, dominates the square and is of neoclassical design in the taste of the English settlement in Porto.

This English influence is visible in the arches of ashlar masonry on the ground floor, with tiling, to the Portuguese taste, added in 1908-10 by Rocha Peixoto, of the authorship of the Belgian painter Joseph Bialman.

Through the streets of Paulo Barreto and Gomes de Amorim, the northern and densely urbanized area of the city is reached.

Eça de Queiroz Square, Praça do Almada has direct access to Bairro da Matriz, the most traditional quarter, and through to Ferreiros Street, a road from the 16th century that until the 19th century was used to get to Vila do Conde and Porto, links the main square to the notorious fishing neighborhood known as Bairro Sul.