Laundry the old fashioned way in Porto

In Porto just on the riverside there is an old style wash house that many people still use to wash their clothes today. It is one of the last of its kind globally and is a significant part of historic culture. There are many natural underground springs meaning that communal water collection points and washing tanks were vital to survival. Porto rapidly urbanised from the 19th to the 20th century and these public wash houses were centralised to manage hygiene and to limit waterborne diseases coming in from washing clothes in the river. They were also a center of female socialisation where women would share news and sing traditional songs turning a labouring job into a vibrant cultural experience. Most of these wash houses are ruins now or were buried by the new city but this one remains as a reminder of what once was. We went to the one on the riverside and aswell as being handy to do our own washing we saw some women still using it to wash sheets and rugs showing that despite the age of the house it was still a part of the culture in the area for many of the people who lived there.