Landing at the airport Francisco Sá Carneiro, the city of Porto starts to show its beauty and colours for those who wish to visit it. It`s only a short distance, by metro or bus, between the airport and the historic centre, classified by UNESCO, in 1996, as World Heritage.

When we arrive at the main metro station – Trindade Metro Station – we can already see the urban canopy around the city’s Town Hall with its grandeur and marvellous Neoclassical facade, emphasising Porto’s uptown area, as well as its hustle and bustle between tourists and residents.

Mandatory to see, even if it’s for the second or third time, the São Bento Railway Station, considered to be one of the most beautiful train stations in the world. Also part of an old monastery, nowadays demolished to serve public transports, going inside feels like entering in another dimension; the 20.000 tiles, decorated by Jorge Colaço, shows us the history from the Dark Ages of Portugal, passing by the Age of Exploration and Siege of Ceuta (1415), encompassing the beginning of Portugal as an empire. This astonishing train station, built by a renowned architect – and also portuense name José Marques da Silva – was heavily inspired by the Parisian train station Gare du Nord.

On the way towards the Ribeira, where the Douro River colours this city with a light Turquoise blue, we can see on the horizon a castle-shaped figure. Nevertheless, Porto represents one of the few Portuguese cities without a castle. The city grew around the Cathedral quarter, around 12^th-13^th centuries, and then moved towards the river, a huge connection with the Atlantic. Old houses from the medieval times, with yellow and scarlet colours, covered by terracotta, in order flow the water from the heavy rain or seize the natural sun from summer days, shows us how locals live nowadays, especially the elderly people. Renting an apartment or even buying is becoming pricy and quite expensive in Porto. To fight against the previous economic recession in 2008, locals decided to remodel their old apartments for Airbnb and making a business out of it. Today, Airbnb or short-term rental apartments took over Portugal and turned this country into a huge tourism industry.

As we approach the Ribeira Square – the heart of the city – we witness a huge wall, taking us back again to the Middle-Ages. This is the only remnant from the 14^th century Fernandina wall (finished by the King Fernando), that survived to a huge Civil War in the 19^th century. It’s a habit to say that the Tripeiros are resilient and never give their own freedom. This happened during this Civil War between two princes, where King Peter won and decided to proclaim the ideals of Liberalism and his daughter Maria nicknamed Porto “Invicta” – Unvanquished city that never gave up.

An elegant city, combining timeless architecture with great and unique food, friendly locals and transients, mild weather and really good transportation. Northern people refer Porto as the heart of the North, curiously because the name originated Portugal as a kingdom and later as a country. Today, we witness Porto – or Oporto as the British nicknamed 200 years ago – as a city of opportunity and to live. Tourism rapidly changed the city, but it’s up to the locals never forget never to change its old traditions.