A Trip to Porto

The best year of my life was not such a good year, mundanely speaking, as it happened in full pandemic, 2021. It was a good year because I was finally living in an apartment so luminous and so spacious (by my standards, ok? :-) ), that everything seemed. finally &bdquo;in the right place“, after a long search for the perfect home. 2021 was a great year because the pandemic secluded most people and I ceased to seem so lonely by comparison :-)) . As a family, we were most of time together. (which I liked) and we travelled for summer in a magnificent place, far from covid prone crowds, Skopelos. I keep a beautiful memory of that holiday. It was also a year of growth, through pain, which is always good, in Seneca’s words, &bdquo;too bad for those not tried by hardship, as they do not get the chance to prove themselves“. So, 2021 was my best year yet. If I am to choose a photo to describe it, would be one from Skopelos, but it is hard to choose. This year I went to Porto. I’ve arrived exhausted, continued and left tired, all in different ways. For most people, Porto is cheap and delicious food and good wine. And that is true for the city shops and restaurants (not the seaside, where food is more expensive). We have discovered tiny, family run restaurants with unpretentious settings and flavorful dishes, food markets with a very diverse and delicious offering and a fishermen village with the most delicious seafood grill. Porto is more than than, of course. For me, it is a blue melancholic and yet refreshing picture, a poem by Pessoa and a Fado song, a long walk by the ocean and an endless embrace of the river Douro with the Atlantic. It could be a romantic destination, a recovery setting for unattached people, a remote work choice (consider the cheap food) and many more. While offering plenty of places and activities for kids, it is less the summer vacation destination that wise parents of spirited children would make, especially if those strong willed children would be swimming lovers. If the water is not yet an iceberg, the child would sit in the water all day, fighting all other entertainment proposals. <a href="https://medium.com/@astrigd/a-trip-to-porto-5e95876eccc3">Read More</a>