The downtown Miragaia, with its famous arcades, which were no more than the front of the houses that faced the sand, was gradually being invaded by the tertiary group of our population, in this specific case the dispatchers and freight forwarders, and the their offices took over, as I do, the floors where people lived. But the river no longer has traffic and cargoes by containers, with many direct deliveries to importers, have been restricting the activity of dispatchers and freight forwarders and we are now witnessing the reverse phenomenon: the offices leave and the people return, but there are still here very unsightly sign asking for appropriate legislation.

At the time of the Roman invasion of the Iberian peninsula, in the 2nd century, the so-called itinerary of the emperor Antonino Pio indicates, on the right bank of the Douro River, a small settlement called "Gale" and which, according to Pinho Leal, meant "in front of Gaia ". In this village, the travelers who came along the Roman road from Bracara Augusta to the south, waited for the boats that led them, east of the now disappeared Castelo de Gaia, towards Lancóbriga (near the current Fair), Talábriga (near the current Aveiro) or Emínio (now Coimbra).

Other authors claim that the settlement is older, based on an epigraphic inscription in their church, where it reads, in Latin: "Prima Cathedralis fecit haec. Basilius oh egris quam pedibus sanus, condidit inde Petro" (in Portuguese, "Esta it was the first cathedral in Porto. S. Basílio, only the feet are seen, built it, and for that reason he dedicated it to S. Pedro "). Basilio, appointed by some as the first bishop of Porto, would have died in 37, and this argument is now the subject of discussion.

According to Monsignor Augusto Ferreira, Miragaia began to be populated in 1243 and, at the time of the death of Bishop D. Pedro Salvadores (24 June 1247), information about the city of Porto shows that Miragaia was then a small fishing village, growing by the river.

It is legitimate to believe that Miragaia was already linked to the city of Porto, even adhering to the wall that began in 1336 under the reign of Afonso IV of Portugal, popularly known as the "Fernandina Walls", because they were completed under that of Fernando from Portugal. Due to its proximity to the river and the beach, activities related to fishing, transport and trade of goods were developed both by river and sea.