Porto
christina
Exploring the city of Porto is a bit like being in a time machine - around every corner and in the tight alleys you feel transported into its deep and rich past. Certainly the modern amenities are all there, but there’s a lingering, haunting feeling that we felt viscerally. The Portuguese concept of Saudade, or a “deep emotional state of nostalgia,” comes to mind and may be at play or perhaps it’s the fact that the city was originally founded in 300BCE by Proto-Celtic and Celtic inhabitants. Either way, there is something mystical and transcendental about it.
Over the years, the city has been known as a commercial trading port and was a major center of shipbuilding during the 14th and 15th centuries. It has also been known for its short-lived nautical sciences university and as a stock exchange in the 1800s. Currently, people overwhelmingly associate it with the Douro River and the valley’s wine region. Of course, the city’s namesake product, Port – a fortified sweet, red wine (often considered a dessert wine) also helps this suggestion. Port has long been cherished in Europe since the 1700s and also comes in dry, semi-dry and white varieties. On the topic of food, Porto is especially known for Balhau a Gomes de Sa – which is a typical cod dish from here that is found throughout Portugal.
The city itself is laid out along the cliffs of the river. On one side, the old town is layered upon itself and reveals nooks and crannies. The Ponte D. Maria bridge, built in the 1800s by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower Fame in Paris), connects to the other side of the river, along which you will find a multitude of wine cellars. We spent a day hiking up to the top of the old city through a back alley and emerged with a beautiful overlook onto the whole footprint - this was incredible and gave us a true sense of the city. We then crossed over the bridge and descended down to the waterfront where we settled in with a nice glass of Port to watch the river go by – highly recommend.
Roaming around Porto you are struck with the enduring Portuguese traditions that are alive and well (more so than in cosmopolitan Lisbon). We stumbled into a community festival on the weekend that was serving excellent street food and beer next to a stage of cultural performances. We stuck around and watched many groups take to the stage expressing their cultural pride with beautiful rhythmic line and circle dancing in traditional dress. Though we aren’t Portuguese, we felt like family as everyone was very welcoming and invited us to partake in the festivities. We were seeing the real Portugal and felt like we were in a vintage Rick Steves travel video from the early 90s. Overall, we found the city to be romantic yet kind of edgy, a place that had unique charm and a mystical quality.
This was a highly recommended restaurant where we enjoyed a lovely dinner and the excellent Cuban chef.
We sat down to an empty restaurant but by desert there was a line twenty deep for dinner.
Perhaps the most glorious looking Macdonalds ever.
The most beautiful bookstore in Europe that was in Harry Potter
Riding in a cable car
We walked into a local traditional dance fair where we danced and enjoyed local cheap beer. SO fun.
FOOD FACTS: Porto is not only about sweet wine, cod and egg tarts but boasts a blossoming slow food movement with a wide variety of dishes (of fish, sea food, meat or regional and convent-made confectionery), cooked with local ingredients.