46 Days in Porto, Portugal
I leave Porto, Portugal, in 46 days. It’s possible that I’ll never return.
“Do you know how many kinds of people there are in this world?” an Uber driver asked as he drove my husband, Chris, and me to Yakuza by Olivier, our favorite sushi restaurant in town.
People from 180 different nations live in Frankfurt, Germany, my mind said. I learned that fact earlier in the day when I jumped down a trip-planning internet hole.
“So many,” I said.
“Two,” he said. “There are two kinds of people.”
“Oh?”
“The lucky and the smart,” he said. “The lucky are born in Porto. The smart move to Porto.”
“Which are you?” I asked.
“The smart.”
It is possible that my husband and I are unlucky and dumb.
Chris and I have decided it’s time to move back to beautiful British Columbia. After three years of travel, it is also time to set up a permanent-ish home base. We thought Portugal might be the place to do just that, but we need towering evergreens, quality maple syrup, easy access to fresh jalapenos, and colder weather. That’s right. We miss the cold and snow.
On our early February trip to Frankfurt, Germany, we walked from our hotel to restaurants for dinner each night. During our walks, gusts of wind reddened my cheeks and nose. Oh, that wind! I haven’t felt wind quite like it since we left Québèc City. Oh, how I’ve missed it.
I smelled trees before seeing them two nights in a row when our hotel-to-dinner route took us through a park with towering evergreens. Cold and the scent of evergreens. It felt like home. But also not.
Forty-six days isn’t much time. It’s six weeks and four days. Six Monday Night Date Nights and Friday Night Fun Nights = twelve more dinners out in Porto. After tonight, it’ll be eleven. Maybe a brunch or two. There are so many places we’ve yet to try. This past Friday, I managed to check out two new-to-me Porto destinations: Manna Food & Yoga and Mercante Restaurante.
At Manna Food & Yoga, I did Cosmic Yoga, a Power Vinyasa flow. The class took place in what looked like a renovated greenhouse attached to the restaurant. There were no mirrors and only enough space for maybe a dozen students. Rain pattered against the glass roof as our instructor cued Savasana. Perfection. After class, in the restaurant area, I bought a slice of their vegan and gluten-free cake of the day, carrot cake, for takeaway. The portion was generous, and it tasted delicious.
I reserved a table for two at Mercante Restaurante for Friday Night Fun Night. It’s a restaurant in our neighborhood that we didn’t know existed until we decided to go for a walk in a direction we’d never been before. After perusing its menu and seeing its reviews, we decided to check it out. Mercante Restaurante is more than worth a try – the food is delicious, hearty, and comforting. The chef himself brings out the dishes and explains each one. Now, it’s one of the restaurants we love and want to return to again. If you visit Porto, I recommend dining here one night. Reservations required.
After tonight’s date night at Yakuza by Olivier, only eleven dinner reservation slots remain. How to spend them between our established favorites and experiencing as much of the city’s culinary scene as we can before we leave? I suppose it’s a good challenge to have.
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Are there things you want to know about Porto, Portugal? If so, let me know. I’d love to gather useful information on the city for those of you who might visit or move this way while I’m still here.