The poet Vasco Graça Moura used to say that "we are all from Porto, or, at least, we have all been from Porto once in our lives". Because you are never indifferent to the heat that flows in the veins and in the alleys of what is the second largest city in Portugal. This city, washed by the Atlantic Ocean, awakens a relationship of affection, love and complicity that, once begun, is never lost. And perhaps there are not many cities like this one, with houses close to the sea and apartments that parallel the river, able to inspire so great a sense of belonging to a place and, consequently, such an extensive poetic work.
Another poet, Eugénio de Andrade, who lived all his life in front of Passeio Alegre, wonderfully renewed nowadays, confessed that "this is the light I would like to carry with me in my eyes when I die - the light of Foz sea, with two or three seagulls passing through." Sophia de Mello Breyner went further, writing that Porto is "the homeland within the homeland". Miguel Veiga, has gone one step further, saying that it was enough for him to "be from Porto in order to be Portuguese". Miguel Torga made the city an ethical map: "the authentic values of life", he said, "must be solid as Praça da Liberdade and tall as Torre dos Clérigos."
Porto, which is characterized by camellias and tiles, culture and traditional trade mixed with author design, avant-garde architecture and romantic buildings, hospitable people and surrendered tourists; Porto, whose Douro River, seen from Arrábida above, looks like a woman's body with a voluptuous hip (this is something that has to be seen at least once in your life); Porto also seems to be a poet's port. It’s as if living in Porto romanticizes people. Because in Porto, which is also city of the art nouveau, contemporary art and traditional properties, of bustling Rua das Flores and busy Rua de Santa Catarina, city of Bolhão’s vegetables and Muñoz’s sculptures playing in Cordoaria, of wine and drinking fountains, of luxurious farms and palaces, in this city where kings turned plot areas into convents and the bourgeoisie has turned luxury villas into a symbol of tradition, in this Porto city, the heart always prevails over reason.
And Porto city, which looks straight ahead to the modern and upgraded wharf of Vila Nova de Gaia, which extends its right arm and touches Matosinhos sea, which stretches its left hand and it’s in the historic centre classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, this city, which is likely to be entirely covered on foot, from the western part to the eastern area, from Freixo to the City Park, this city deserves a dynamic real estate market, with real estate to buy or sell, so that it can be inhabited by those who really desire to live here, whether it is in Downtown, Boavista or above, walking to Entre-os-Rios, or below, in front of the beach, in the heart of Foz do Douro.
Fortunately, the historical and sentimental road map of the city that the British, the Dutch and the Danish surrendered to so many dozens of years ago, has walked hand-in-hand with a real estate construction that focuses not only on the quality of materials and finishes but also on the landscape, giving full meaning to what quality of life is. New real estate, whether independent or in gated communities, often includes extras that make us feel good, as well as swimming pools, gyms or terraces. Because Porto is to never lose sight of.
If you contact a real estate agent of LUXIMOS Christie’s International Real Estate, a prestigious company based in the city for more than five years, and if you gaze at its real estate portfolio, you can see why one day some people have associated happiness to Porto, saying that “Porto is the happy city”.
