Oporto
This is going to be written in a mix of Spanish and English so fair warning haha.
¡Oporto, qué encanto! Qué paz sentía al callejear y disfrutar de las callejuelas de Ribeira, aunque mi estancia fue breve, de tres días. Fue demasiado corto, regresaré allí sin duda para presentarla a mis amigos.
Los azulejos de Oporto son preciosos.
La fotito de arriba de una iglesia cerca De la Torre de los clérigos me transmite una sensación de paz. Es una foto que hice de los azulejos. La forma en que los azulejos enmarcan la luz verde del semáforo peatonal simplemente tuvo sentido capturar. Una buena foto debe tener sentido sacar. Eso es lo que hace la buena fotografía, ves la foto y estás de acuerdo con su visual, su estética te apetece. Bueno, esta foto definitivamente me complace.
Elegí deliberadamente capturarla cuando estaba en verde, porque cuando llegué estaba en rojo. Hay un optimismo detrás de esa elección. He estado sintiendo mucha positividad, mucha claridad sobre las cosas, sobre mis perspectivas. Las cosas están mejorando para el 2024. Me he estado emocionando mucho. Oporto me hizo sentir un paz, fue navidad y aunque estuve solo la ciudad me acompañó y me enamoró.
Cada día me alegraba. Me producía muchísima ilusión, como si hubiera tomado una droga, la verdad. Es un lugar mágico, especialmente al atardecer. Me encantó Oporto por la noche con las luces navideñas. Sin duda regresaré allí. Espero que sea pronto.
From the churches tiled with the classic blue azulejos to the nooks and crannies of Ribiera, Porto is a charming and beautiful city that I’ve fallen in love with. Nestled along the river Douro, it was a city that was easy to navigate through, inviting you to roam and discover. There was almost no need to use Google maps to orient myself there. The landmarks, once you know them, will naturally orient you.
I love being comfortably lost, and Oporto let’s you do that. In my book you’re not traveling right if you don’t get a little off the beaten trail. And hey I’m in Portugal, it’s only right to explore a little. Un poquito.
Porto scores a nine out of ten on my «fácil de callejear spectrum» which is a scale I’ve invented to evaluate how easily of a city it is to move through by foot. The only notch off is that it’s incredibly steep. It’s a workout in and of itself to walk around. More on that later.
Oporto has this magical window of time, an hour before and after sunset, when the city night lights begin to awake. Some turn on early, but by ten minutes by the sunset nearly all are on. This period is magical. It’s enchanting to watch the lights on both sides of the Douro come on, then the bridge itself lights up and everything is glowing in the dark. While that happens, the sun sets and the colors of the sky change every so slightly, so that every ten minutes you’re looking at a new shade. That lights turning on paired with the sunset was beautiful to watch.
The first night I watched the sunset from the monastery across the ponte de Luis I. The second night from the docks of Ribiera, which was an unbelievably beautiful sunset. The way the colors reflected off the river from the sunset was mesmerizing. The river then became some kind of canvas, and every ten minutes it would change shades of orange and pink and red. It was incredible to watch. I don’t think the photos even do it justice, despite how pretty they are.
I’ll be framing a few of those.
I am quite pleased with how my new camera is photographing. It seems to capture a picture with its truer color than my phone. The above photos are from my phone. Below are ones from my camera the 100RICOH.
The heart of Porto beats around the river Douro, it’s the main artery so to speak of city: everything revolves around it.
As long as you’re in sight of the river Douro, you’re not lost in Porto. It’s runs through the heart of the city, el puente de Luis I extends over it, Ribiera wraps itself beside the bridge and along the river and it’s the focal point. I loved watching the boats pass by and the sunsets both nights were unbelievably beautiful.
I’m wiped. I was going to write more in Spanish, but I’m just so fatigued. Si no hubiera caminado por tantas escaleras, habría tenido más energía mental para escribir en español. But I’m drained.
According to my health app I averaged 22,000 steps a day across the three days I was in Porto for. So after almost 70,000 steps later, I’d say I know Porto fairly well. I don’t know how many streets I walked through, but I covered a lot of ground.
I loved walking the streets and seeing the azulejos patterns and just the buildings themselves. There were many quirky looking doors that I found charming. Even the doors of dilapidated buildings I thought were pretty. I find that true beauty is found in the little things that give one joy, like simply going for a stroll and appreciating the artistry in the mundane things.
Here’s my little album. I hope to expand it.
While walking I came to recognize one graffiti artist who calls themself rabbits. Their signature work is of the following face, which I found very cool.
Ribiera is a little neighborhood full of nooks and crannies worth exploring. I think I passed through it three times, I couldn’t get enough. There’s a beauty though too in these little nooks and crevices. There’s so much to lay your eyes on you really need to walk slowly and appreciate It was like I was high from just walking through and gazing at all the beautifully colored bounding. Here’s a few photos from there:
Ribiera has this little plaza which I don’t know the name but I kept returning too. It’s pictured above.I might have thought I was in candy land there, it’s full of pastel colored painted buildings, each exuding their own personality with Christmas decorations and different plotted plants and ceramics. There’s even a cat that lives there who I photographed too.
The streets themselves are their own art exhibit, I’d never been in a more photogenic neighborhood. It’s nestled below el puente de Luis I and wraps around la catedral de Oporto, so it’s a great neighborhood to get to know early and it guides you quite naturally to Porto’s most significant destinations.
I saw a lot of cats roaming like I through the streets. This cat below was in a different neighborhood that Ribiera. They were just checking out the view when I stopped to say hello.
My first foray into Porto I stumbled upon la muralha fernandina (castle) and Ponte Luis I. It’s not hard to stumble your way into Porto’s most recognized landmarks, which I appreciate as someone loves to just roam. I stumbled myself into la torre de Los clérigos after eating a pastel de nata from an excellent bakery.
Those pastels de nata are so fricking delicious, it’s like a baked custard. I can’t stop eating them. I’m not sure they’re in Spain so I have to take some back with me.
For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I was alone there and was calling my family often. There’s a Portuguese word, unique to Portuguese, that is it can’t be translated into another language. The word is saudade, defined at the intense longing for someone who is distant. It describes the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and sadness which one carries while longing for that person or thing. I find it fitting then that I was there in Portugal, experiencing this phenomenon.
“Tenho muitas saudades tuas” is what they say for I miss you so much. In Spanish, te echo muchísimo de menos
But had I to be anywhere else than with my family, doing anything else than with my family on Christmas, I would be where I was: content with exploring the beauty of Oporto.
I’m falling in love with Portugal. I am trying to learn a little bit of Portuguese.
Obrigado.
Hasta luego
🇵🇹🤍👋🏼
