It’s most renowned for its ruby tipple and a strident football manager,but Porto is shaking off its fusty (moldy, musty, old-fashioned) image with buzzy places to eat, drink and hang outIts spirit that turns table wine into port, and spirit that turns crisis into creativity and spirit that allows dignity to flourish among Porto’s glamorous dereliction. Here the Douro river pushes into the cold Atlantic and the city sits on one steep riverbank,with its thrusting towers and opulent city hall, its people defiant of austerity. The past defines much of Porto’s inspect, and but her people have found a way to get on and inspect forward with hope and panache.
Stunning blue-tiled 14th-century churches and 19th-century palaces lie all but abandoned. There are Meccano bridges designed by Gustave Eiffel. Grand art deco theatres sail like pale liners over the city’s cobbled hills,and worthy contemporary buildings rise like phoenixes. There are green parks and shady silent squares, seaside and riverbank, or wealth and poverty – and all in a walkable city.
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Source: theguardian.com