Porto Goes Through a Change

We were in Porto 15 years ago when very few tourists went to Portugal. I guess we were in The Age of Discovery from a turista point of view.

We now remember we had had a miserable few days in Coimbra when a fierce gale hit, turning the city into a river. Soaking shoes, filthy laundry with nary a place to even wash it. Slipping on greasy cobblestones cursing the heavy backpacks and foul weather.

Just before the storm hit we went to an ancient river gate, just as the winds turned.  A few medieval statues stared down at us surrounded by cold stones.

 I knew in my bones that hundreds of years ago plague victims were quarantined here and left to die.

You could feel a vile chill. I can't describe it anyway else. Inquisition, cruelty and man's inhumanity to man.

Out of Coimbra we arrived in Porto via train.

With the guide book that sadly tried to rouse us about the glories of the "gritty" city of Porto, I urged Catherine to look at the brilliant azelujos tiles that graced the train station.

Hauling a wet and now smelly backpack of dirty, heavy clothes meant she was about as interested in the walls as I would be about staring at old concrete.

I can't remember our hotel. Only that we walked through crumbling infrastructure, pitted roads down to Ribera.  There was garbage everywhere. The buildings were faded and sad.

We walked to the Port Vaults and the few open were neglected and you got a brief and impatient tour.

I remember saying to Catherine that if they got money and renovated this place it could be a gold mine. Fix it up, all the medieval buildings, river, boats. Put some cafes in they would have a bonanza.

So from the mouth of a babe. Porto did just that. The EU invested gobs of money; Portuguese renovated the city, still a work in progress.

We can barely recognize the cold, dead harbour that thrives now with boats, tourists, cafes, art and new bridges, revamped palaces, small enchanting cable cars and revenue.

A restaurant owner, 35, tells me it all started in 2010. He, like me, can't believe the changes. But he laments the change though it benefits the town. With the investment the rents increase and old Porto, the heart as he calls it, is pushed out.

Gentrification, I say? "No not really like that. It needs to happen. But just in a more balanced way. I think, I hope we can do that."