Ribeira, Matosinhos...

Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, and one of the major urban areas inSouthern Europe and the capital of the second major great urban area in Portugal. Its administrative limits (an area of 41.66 km²/16 sq.mi) include a population  inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes. The urban area of Porto, which extends beyond the administrative limits of the city, has a population of 1.3 million (2011) in an area of 389 km2 (150 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. The Porto Metropolitan Area includes approximately 1.7 million people,. It is recognized as a Gamma- level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group,[9] being one of five cities on the Iberian Peninsula with global city status, (the others being Madrid, Barcelona,Lisbon and Valencia).

Located along the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldestEuropean centres, and registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin for the name "Portugal", based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. 

One of Portugal's internationally famous exports, port wine, is named for Porto, since the metropolitan area, and in particular the adegas of Vila Nova de Gaia, were responsible for the production and export of the fortified wine.

In Matosinhos there's a beach area that is a good place to spend the sunny days, you can go there the whole day, enjoying the sea breeze but there are also lots of options to have fun there. You can, for example, choose to eat on the beach or on the grass areas (just walking to the left of the beach), there are some hills to lay down on or you can choose to eat something in one of the nearest restaurants. Some of them are on the beach (quite expensive) but you also have options in the city of Matosinhos such as Munchies (with tasty burgers) or little restaurants with cheap traditional Portuguese food.

On weekends there are lots of people around, going walking, surfing or walking their dogs. Sometimes there are activities around the Christal building on the beach, for example, markets or zumba exhibitions organized by a gym, and also some people selling touristic stuff such as sunglasses, hats, bracelets...

One of the best activities to do there is surfing, this beach is perfect to learn and there's many surf schools with cheap courses to learn or improve your skills, for example, Onda Pura.

So if you want to spend a day or some hours there and you're in a sporty mood, try some surf, walk around or play football or volley matches. If you are tired, you can just lay down there or relax having a tea near the sea.

You have many options to go there from Porto, by metro with the A line, direction Senhor de Matosinhos and get out the metro in Matosinhos Sul or by bus with the line 500 which departs from Aliados every few minutes.