Turning a Nightmare Around in Porto, Portugal

My next stop on the “Year Around Portugal” was the lovely northern Portuguese city of Porto where challenges were waiting for me.

View of Porto (photo by author)

I Could Live in Porto! 

Ahh, Porto. The city of port wine cellars, a picturesque, albeit hilly, historic center and a lovely location along the Douro River. What is not to love about this fair city? When I first moved to Portugal, only Porto and Lisbon were true contenders as places to live. After flashbacks to snow drifts in NYC so large my short self could hardly see over them, I chose the warmest city, Lisbon. With more sunny days and direct flights than Porto, it was the clear choice. 

However, after a chaotic year fighting the onslaught of unchecked tourism, I grew weary of my beloved Lisbon and began considering other places. As I traveled around, I found a lovely lifestyle in many of the towns I visited. My month-long stays instead of quick weekends away, gave me more insight into how life could be in other towns. I had to work, eat and live in these places as it was not a holiday for me. It gave me a different perspective. 

Excited to be in Porto!  (photo by author)

My Dream Apartment in Porto

When searching for an apartment to call home for my month in Porto, I was blown away by one directly across from the Bolhão market. It was a fabulous apartment with a chef’s kitchen, a bathroom complete with a bathtub for soaking, and a comfy living area with a desk for work. The strong selling point was the magnificent view over the market. I could see myself shopping there for fruits and vegetables on my way home from my morning galão at my local café. 

However, the apartment was too much of a splurge so I chose one in the neighborhood where I could see myself living if I moved here. While not quite as magnificent as the Bolhão view apartment, this was the one I was most excited about of all the places I rented for the year. It had a nice kitchen with all the appliances you could need, a bathroom with a bathtub and a balcony with a cozy swing where I could sit and enjoy the lovely garden view.

With its big French doors overlooking that peaceful garden, I could imagine sunny days spent working at the table in the window followed by relaxing evenings overlooking the garden.

Oh dreams how you disappoint when you turn into nightmares.

A Rude Awakening

At the rental car office, I nervously stood by as the employee looked it over. After a full inspection, she found no problems. She must have been at the end of her shift and in no mood to file accident reports. Back in my dream apartment, it was late in the day so I quickly unpacked, anxious to get some dinner and have a walk around the neighborhood.

The next day, I had a rude awakening. Suddenly, very loud hammering and banging commenced seemingly above my head early in the morning. “Please let them be hanging pictures!” I begged the universe. After a more careful inspection of the building next door, I noticed the full scale gut renovation that was happening. It would not be completed any time soon.

On top of the noise, during the day the apartment received direct sun, making it impossible to keep the shade up and enjoy the garden view. The place was so hot, it made me want to never visit a sauna again as I was living in one.

Hmm, maybe the owner might have thought to share these little details about the place with me, knowing I would be here for a month and working during the weekdays. She was basically useless after one attempt to help me move to another place that she would pay for out of what I had paid her. It was an equal swap. After I began packing up to move, the place fell through because the woman wanted a 200 euro deposit as utilities were not included. She would refund the difference. The owner refused. She did not want to pay one cent over what I paid her. 

AirBNB Is Useless

I spent the next month getting harassed by the apartment’s owner and AirBNB to move out, offering me a small discount which was basically AirBNB waving their fees. They would stand to gain because they were being forced to give me a discount as the place was unusable during the day. The problem with moving was, there was no place available that was not almost twice what I’d paid which was already the most expensive of all the apartments for the year. On top of all of that, I had to rent a coworking space which added insult to injury.  

Every time I passed the Bolhão market and looked up at what could have been my dream apartment in my potential new home city of Porto, I felt immense regret for not making that splurge, much less of one in comparison. 

Shrimp Tacos With People Watching for Lunch (photo by author)

My Luck Changes!

Initially, I tried to find cafes I could work from, which was a short-term solution while I visited potential co-working spaces. Finally, I found a great co-working space, a 25-minute walk from my apartment. That worked out as my morning cafe was on the way there, cutting my commute in half. 

I loved it there! I arrived early in the morning, before all my younger co-workers. They shuffled in a bit later, still yawning from their late-night fun. I was able to focus and work long hours, catching up on all my work. The space was located in a neighborhood I loved, with two of my favorite lunch spots, lovely cafes for an afternoon coffee break, and my sports bar right across the street which meant I could work until 8pm game times.

Working in the co-working space gave me flashbacks to my last permanent office in NYC. While my time in corporate America was full of enough toxicity that I would never want to go back, there are elements I miss. The camaraderie with your group of people, happy hours to blow off steam and sneaking out for two-hour lunches that once turned into an all afternoon thing, which is a fun topic for another day…

Porto Is A Great City

All in all, Porto is a lovely city. I regret I was not able to soak up the full experience but I had my share of fun times. More on that next…