Gustave Eiffel really got around…  In Portugal several famous public moment are attributed to his pen – many incorrectly. In fact, miss attribution to Eiffel ranks as the most common Portugal blooper after spelling the Douro River Duoro. Oddly, any steel structure that is gray seems to get labeled with his signature.  So let’s play: Eiffel or no Eiffel!

Porto’s Dom Luís Bridge is one of the most beautiful in the world. The Dom Luís Bridge is a double-deck metal arch bridge that spans the Douro between Porto and Gaia. The 172 meters span was the longest of its type in the world when it opened in 1886. And, many websites say it was the work of Eiffel. Wrong. His firm did tender a bid that was rejected as too small a bridge. Théophile Seyrig, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel, was the real designer.

Porto’s Ponte Maria Pia is lovely 1877a railway bridge It is attributed to Eiffel- and that may be Correct – seems Eiffel’s firm did get the bid to build this railway bridge. But the actual design is difficult to pin to him, but it is likely it was Théophile Seyrig work, Eiffel's business partner. Eiffel, in his memoir of the bridge credited Seyrig, along with Henry de Dion.

The steel façade of Coimbra’s Chiado Building is unique in that city’s downtown. The store opened in 1910 and was the largest department store in the city. Many guides say the construction as a bold steel structure was the work of Eiffel, but probably only one of his students was the author

In 1998, Maria Emília and José Carlos Telo de Morais donated their extensive art collection to the city of Coimbra, which is now exhibited at Edifício Chiado

They often say that Lisbon’s 1906 Santa Justa Elevator has to be the work of Eiffel, some say it is Lisbon’s Eiffel Tower…. Set at the end of Rua de Santa Justa, it connects the lower streets of the Baixa with the Bairro Alto and the  Largo do Carmo. But, no, Eiffel was not the designer here- the real designer was the Porto-born French engineer Raul Mesnier de Ponsard, another student of Gustave Eiffel.