Santo Ildefonso
Torre da C.M.
Ribeira
view from Dom Luis I Bridge
[from FB post: July 25, 2016]
Report from Porto: this city just does not fail to impress. I came with few expectations although I heard it was nice. Nice is an understatement. It has hills. It has a funicular. It has a cool old trolley that advertises Jameson Whisky ... Hahahaha. It has a huge bridge. It has a river and waterfront. Many old buildings are covered in cool tiles.
And real people live here. This place is not sanitized. The old city still has lots of residents doing normal jobs.
There are fewer immigrants here cuz the locals don't need any help. They still do most of the jobs themselves.
People are friendly.
The local "green" wine is actually a slightly sparkling white wine... YUMMMM.
I don't know how this is NOT more on the radar of people visiting Europe. Partly I am happy that it is still so untouched. But partly a boom in tourism would really help this place out. Lots of it is still really "down and out".
If I had one to compare this place... San Francisco perhaps or Valparaiso (a better comparison).
I am so happy I stopped over here for a few days.
Accidentally in Love
On that big vacation in 2016 I was in Bologna and wanted to get to Northern Spain. Ryanair specialized in flights between medium-sized cities in Europe and I found a cheap and convenient flight from Bologna to Porto, Portugal. Why not? I would stay in Porto a few days and then take the train to Vigo, Spain just a few hours away.
My introduction to Porto just blew me away. The new airport and tramline into the city were futuristic. I thought immediately, "this is EU money well-spent". Little Porto Airport was easy to navigate and I simply walked out and took the tram downtown. I checked into my hotel and was offered a welcome drink. I could have a beer, a glass of port, or the local "green wine" (vinho verde). I told the friendly bartender that I was sorry, but I just didn't care for port wine and asked about the green wine. He said it was "a little bit fizzy" and quite refreshing. Since weather was scorching outside, perhaps it hit the spot even more than usual, but I loved it! Pinot Grigio move over, I found something just as good. A white wine, slightly effervescent, I even turned my whole family in Pennsylvania onto it! (luckily it was available in State Stores in PA).
Porto was hilly, just like San Francisco. That meant walking required effort (and frequent refreshment stops). The whole city literally tumbled down the hills into the River Douro. The use of blue ceramic tiles on building exteriors was everywhere. Since the sky was a brilliant late July blue, the colors of the tiles popped even more. In addition to the discovery of green wine, I think blue tile work will be my lasting memory of Porto.
The old part of the the city, Ribeira, down on the river was filled with cafes and restaurants. The whole scene was dominated by the towering Dom Luis I double-level bridge, the unofficial symbol of the city due to its height and its uniqueness of having a nearly river level crossing as well as an extremely high crossing right above it. Both ends of the upper portion of the bridge held old fortifications which used to guard the entrance to the city. The bridge, the river, the old city, the views - Porto had a lot going for it.
I only spent a few days there and I wished I had budgeted more time. The city felt real. It had a gritty element to it, but not scary. The old town had bars and restaurants, but it hadn't totally given itself over to tourism as Lisbon's old town had [see: Bad Romance]. Working Portuguese people lived in Porto - it felt authentic. That is something getting scarce in many places that have become the darlings of tourism. Poor Venice, as I have recounted, has lost most of its residents. Porto felt more like Liège, Belgium - real people lived there. Not the Europe of fairy-tale places tourists came to visit, Porto was an authentic place where people lived a perhaps not so easy life.
Porto has been discovered and I increasingly read articles about how it is underrated and should be visited. I agree fully, but will it be at the expense of the Portuenses?
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