A Weekend in Porto, Portugal
Porto in one word — “wow”. Lisbon, your brother is almost cooler than you are.
5:30am alarm. Wake. Shower. Make Tea. Eat bananas. Pack prepared lunch. Remember forgotten things. Lock. Music on. Go.
The warm silent Lisbon air envelops me as I head toward the bus stop, the late rising city still sound asleep (or still partying). I’m hoping that my previous experience with Lisbon’s buses ending in a narrowly boarded plane to Sweden is not repeated. Thankfully at 6:00am Lisbon’s buses actually arrive, and I’m pleasantly surprised it’s on time. The salt air zephyr from the River Tajo is crisp and quiet.
I board the earliest AP train and we glide off in WiFi back seat tray luxury. The WiFi in AP’s trains are passable, but don’t expect streaming NetFlix. I’m spend my time busily creating this blog, exciting!
Nearly three hours later the doors open into Porto Campanha. Immediately my friend’s recommendation to pack warm clothes is justified. Its freezing!! Whilst only three hours north of Lisbon the local geography dominated by the gorgeous Duoro mountains result in a much cooler climate than Lisbon.
The immediate impression from the Campanha station isn’t great, and definitely not reflective of the beautiful city that awaits.
Taking the veil of my sleepy travels, I take a galão from a warm looking local café. Galão is basically a Portuguese version of the Australian latté. It’s a nice change to the standard espresso, and comes in a confusing number of variations. Just order one with low expectations and you should be pleased with what you receive.
The typical Portuguese café is bristling with older locals. It is so refreshing to be amongst so many older people in contrast to my youth dominated demographic circles in Australia. I’m a firm believer in having a wide bandwidth of friend ages to moderate my life perspective and I really enjoy seeing so many older people out and about in the streets of Portugal.
I’d prearranged a special favour from Nuno from Sitio do Cano Amarelo. The store is an analogue only who’s-who of film cameras. The store features everything from €2 plastic point and shoots to expensive pro level SLRs, TLRs and large format machines. Sitio also offers warranty which is almost a must these days when buying such complex antique mechanical machines.
I’m interested in picking up a film SLR to shoot with in low light when focusing with my beloved rangefinders becomes too slow. I feel like a kid in a candy store to be amongst so many cameras I’ve investigated online. If you’re interested in picking up an analogue camera in Portugal, check out my detailed review of the film scene here* (* = coming soon). Compared to the stores in US/Australia there’s so much choice here at very reasonable prices.
I eventually leave empty handed after a case of overchoice trying too many fantastic machines (the Nikon FM2 and Olympus OM4 and Olympus XA were standouts). I meet up with my friend Kamila, a Dutch intern from WavEC. We quickly get lost in the enchanting city. After only 30 minutes I sense Kamila is about to kill me due to my erratic style of travelling/exploring, constantly getting distracted by unique Portuguese, charismatic locals and unrecognised types of azulejos.
Azulejos are the tiling that adorns many of the building facades throughout Portugal. The tessellating patterns come in many different designs and I’ve taken the Pokémon approach in trying to catch a photo of them all. My goal is to document as many of the designs in the hope of preserving them as I feel many of the facades will be replaced in Portugal’s current and future construction booms, forgetting the ornate designs forever.
The three things that immediately stand out in comparison to Lisbon is that the city is so geographically so much more flat and is very youthful and modern.
Featuring one of Portugal’s top universities, Porto is full of energetic youthful student influence. The city is rich with modern and fresh street art, hip looking stores and youthful energy.
We take a lunch with our Polish graphic designer friend Aleks who’s relocated to live here. I’m so jealous, my first impressions of Porto are that it’s a designer’s dream. There’s definitely a reason J.K. Rowling was so captivated by this city during her time living here. Between 1991 and 1993 she would write Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the morning and teaching English in the afternoon and evenings.
I’m stoked to find an azulejos tote designed by a local mum and dad team. I love day tripping with totes as you can roll them up and pack them away when the setting requires and they allow quick access my camera.
One of our first stops is the Livaraia Lello, surely a favourite of Rowling. The bookstore is situated across from a beautiful modern roof garden adorned plaza that injects a healthy green atmosphere into the city which stands next to the Clérigos bell tower. The bookshop itself is designed in a gothic style with swirling staircases, beautiful stained glass and red carpets. Apparently there exists a rule to not take photos but the place is in full swing which eventually drives me out.
A high quality progressive rock band is playing some cool instrumental grooves under the Clérigos bell tower which easily pass the time.
We spend the sunset on the top of the Dom Luís I bridge. Designed by Théophile Seyri, a partner of Gustave Eiffel (Eiffel Tower designer) the bridge features two levels with the top having a nice view of the sunset. The bridge itself is beautiful (caveat I’m an engineer) and at its time it was the longest of its kind in the world at 172m.
Its lines and design hark back to the Parisian tower, it’s worth checking out.
We spend the night roaming Porto. The party culture here is crazy, bars only begin to come alive around 11pm and 2pm is the peak to go out. Most bars shut around 2pm in Australia! I’m still drained by a recovery from Giardia and retire to my hostel at Garden House Hostel.
My morning is spent exploring more film camera stores on the way to a Port wine brunch at Graham’s Port Lodge. For €12 we are treated to a tour of the lodge’s cellar and a tasting of three (incredible) Port wines. Its great value and all of us consider buying a bottle of the Graham’s 20 year old Tawny — a fantastic port.
Slightly drunk we further confuse my recovering stomach by following up with a Porto specialty — the Francesinha. Even after finishing one I’m not exactly sure how many types of meat are included though Wikipedia lists the ingredients as bread, wet-cured ham, linguiça, fresh sausage like chipolata, steak or roast meat and covered with melted cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce served with french fries. It is bloody tasty but not exactly my ideal lunch.
My food coma is interrupted by a quick realisation the entire day has flown by and wave the girls a hasty goodbye as I leg it for the train. Arriving with 5 minutes to departure I enjoy the equally nice IC train back to Lisbon as we race past innumerable Portuguse casa’s scattered across the hills to a golden sunset.
Porto, you’re just great.
Addendum:
I was only in Porto during a sunny weekend. Curious to see what it would be like to live over winter.
If Porto were a person:
She would be a well-dressed sophisticated 25 year old architect type. Brunette, super friendly and happy to let loose on the weekends. Wears coats and haunts cafes. Wants to travel but can’t seem to save money.
