Porto, Portugal

In 1824, brothers José and António Ribeiro Braga donated their land to create this Porto street, a gift that connected two parts of the city. Nearly two centuries later, the street hosts different residents: Portugal’s estimated 830,000 stray cats, roughly one feline for every twelve people. When the sun finally breaks through after days of rain, balcony sentinels emerge to survey their domains, unbothered by the humans below who merely rent the view.

The street’s name has nothing to do with Portugal’s ancient city of the same name, despite what a casual glance might suggest. The Ribeiro Braga family inherited the land through their mother, whose own father owned the rural estate known as Carvalhos do Monte. Their father, Custódio Ribeiro Braga, held the considerably less charming title of familiar do Santo Ofício, an agent of the Inquisition. When his sons gave up part of that inheritance in February 1824, in the middle of Portugal’s Liberal Wars, the new road connected the streets of Cedofeita and Mártires da Liberdade, and left the family surname on the address instead of anyone’s hometown.

The brothers gave the city a shortcut. The city’s cats (and, evidently, dogs!) took the balconies.