Journal #38 — Porto isn’t fun (but it is cool).
Porto is cool, but it’s not FUN. It’s the smallest city I’ve been to yet, very walkable, the architecture (which I have yet to learn about) is beautiful and well preserved, and the food is tasty, but it isn’t a fun city. Or if it is, I haven’t discovered it yet.
The people are fun. At my hostel yesterday (and every day) the employees cooked what they call a “Family Dinner” for everyone staying here. It’s free, always vegetarian, and everybody is welcome to join. The kitchen was full of people meeting each other while having a few drinks and some Yakimeshi Rice (tofu with white rice and veggies). After dinner we all went to the den for more than an hour of guitar performances from one of the guests who played an original as well as a bunch of covers that had everybody singing along. It’s my first time finding anything this community oriented at a hostel, and it’s a lot of fun, but that’s because of the people and not the city.
After the concert, we all went out together to a karaoke bar that was half-empty and totally uninspiring. The downside of the small hostel is that I’m less likely to meet anybody between 18 and 20 years old, and so far I’ve been completely unsuccessful with one exception: there’s a 20 year old woman who works here that I think is good looking. A couple nights ago we were getting to know each other until I told her I was 18 and she replied by saying that I was, and I quote, “disgustingly young”. Brutal. So there’s not many options for me in terms of younger people to hang out with. And this is why I say that Porto isn’t a fun city, at least for someone like me; because Porto doesn’t have enough people to fill the clubs and bars at night, so if you’re outside of the average age range it becomes very difficult to find people to talk to. It’s very reasonable that a smaller city would also have a smaller social reach, but it makes it less fun for me.
We checked out a couple bars as a group but I decided to leave and head back to the hostel early (at 3 a.m) because I really wasn’t having a great time. My döner on the walk back tasted great though.
I didn’t make it outside until early afternoon, but I’ve had a good day so far. The food here is very cheap and I had a good sandwich and pastries from a local bakery and sat outside reading for a while. Then, I walked over to a beautiful park and smoked a little bit, popped my AirPods in, and zoned out to some Mac Miller and Steve Lacy while sitting in the grass with my head resting against a tree. The weather was perfect and I must have spent a couple hours enjoying the fresh air.
I of course needed food afterwards, and I ate one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in recent memory.
Not super fancy, it’s chopped steak with ham, cheese, and a fried egg on a homemade bun. Delicious. And those chips, too, wow. All for eight euro, which is a big deal for my rapidly declining wallet.
I walked back to the hostel and now it’s 8:00 and I’ll eat dinner here in half an hour, and then decide if I’m going out or not. I’m tired and I’d rather take it easy tonight and be ready to go this weekend, but I’m easily swayed so I’m not sure what will happen.
Hopefully this weekend Porto has more going on at night but regardless, I could smoke weed and listen to music in a park every day for a week and I wouldn’t have any complaints, so by no means am I not enjoying Porto.
