A few years ago my folks travelled to Europe. One of their absolute highlights was Porto. So we were always on the way there, but even better, we had been offered a place to stay, from a Land Rover fan online. He had an apartment near Gaia, a suburb across the river from Oporto, and a workshop close by. Who were we to refuse?
Can someone tell me what community to post travel posts in now Pinmapple has stopped curating?
Whilst it can be awkward to accept a total strangers invite, one must just trust the universe. And Paulo's apartment was gorgeous, full of books, art and even a little statue of Shiva. He seemed our kind of person. And he was so insistent. Before long he'd bundled us into his car for a tour of the city he was born in. Like my usual posts, I won't be detailing the history and landmarks of this stunning city, only my personal impression of it.
It was awesome to get a personal tour. We headed straight for the highest point for views of the city, straight where there were hardly any tourists. I fell in love with it immediately. It was the kind of city you'd draw if you were dreaming of drawing a city in a dream. Higgedly piggledy and the crammed houses shaped and squished together beyond reason, under bridges, nudged up against churches.
Unlike Lisbon, too, it was much more walkable. In fact I read an article that said it was Europes most walkable city. Of course, there are hills, but nothing like Lisbon. And the city was so darn pretty with different colours. Of course, I loved the ragged corners, with broken buildings and graffiti. It's expensive to renovate a house in Portugal which is why so many are in disrepair.
Whilst many streets are gentrified and their facades newly tiled, there's still an edginess. There's still dealers in dark alleys and squats and homelessness and the dark city things. Dogs still bark. Paulo laughs and tells us, slightly abashed, that the northern, Porto version of his countrys language is uncouth and peppered with swearing. Much like Australia, I joke back.
The train station is gorgeous. There's massive walls of historical scenes in painted tiles and windows that let in warm light.
Like everywhere, Porto has increasingly expensive real estate. Paulo tells us a river front house is easily upwards of a million euros. Some 30,000 French have immigrated in the last year alone. It's cheaper here than in many parts of Europe and the cost of living is good. Of all city places in Europe, I wouldn't mind living around Porto.
And of course, the Douro valley extends from its outlet here and into the wine heartland. The port industry here is famous, but I'll talk more about that later.
With Love,
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I was in Porto a few months ago, loved it!
We're still curating up to the end of the month. Keep pinning for now on.
The Pinmapple community is still going be here afterwards, just that we won't be moderating it. The community is so well established and has a good reputation with high quality posts and has a lot of views, so it's still likely to be the best place for your travel content as other curators will know where to look. I will still be curating here in my OCD curator capacity
Love you gorgeous. Xxx It must be kinda bittersweet to come to the end of an era, of is it kinda a relief? I guess people still post in Natural Medicine occasionally too.
I kinda get how you feel when you stopped natmed, but for different reasons I guess
How cool is that! Where do you meet these people? :D And are they looking to adopt strays like myself maybe? xD So happy, I'm sure Porto would've stayed in memory regardless, but this experience probably made it even more memorable. Really enjoyed this. I haven't been to Porto yet, but reading/seeing your take on it definitely gives me a bad case of wanderlust.
Hugs! <3
Oh you must go. You would find it truly inspiring. Have you read any Portuguese authors?
Ha, we meet them because they contact us on socials with offers. When we got in the country I posted a photo of us and the car in the Portugal Land Mania group which is all Land Rover obsessive people. We were flooded with messages from all over the county.
Landie people are usually awesome - they like adventure, but also are usually into lots of interesting things, not just cars. I'll write a post to explain it soon.
Jesus. Starting to rethink my "not a car person" world here. :D I've read some Pessoa and Saramago, of course, but other than that, I don't think so.
Hi, nice trip through "Porto", I love the buildings and their colorful architecture, nice post.👍👍👍
I was less than 24 hours in total in Porto, and half of that time it was raining heavily... Despite all that, I loved the city! I will try to get there again, but this time in the summer and for a longer time... 😅
Beautiful city! Thanks for sharing! It brings some nice memories!
Ah the rain might have made it less than ideal but it was obviously good enough for you to want to return!
Many old building with beautiful views, historical places including bridges with antique designs. Greetings.
I want to congratulate you for your incredible work and dedication – your efforts truly inspire and elevate our entire community!