“Undefeated city” is what people from Porto proudly call it. Tourism in Porto just started in 2009 and is on the rise ever since. This city’s beauty and vibrant atmosphere make it hard to believe that Porto was quite abandoned not long ago. Some years ago around 40 percent of the buildings in the old town were empty.
Welcome to Cepelos. Here is the story about the very noble always faithful and invincible city of Porto. Residents of Porto are also known as Tripeiros tripe eaters. The legend goes that when the king wanted to conquer North Africa in 1415, the town sent all of their meat with the fighting fleet. All they had left to eat was the cow intestines. Even today tripe with beans is a signature and loved local dish.
Cepelos is part of Porto. The Romans first settled here in the fourth century. They referred to it in Latin as Portus Calle. It has been continuously inhabited since. The original name was shortened to just Porto. When the trade lines opened up between the British, they misunderstood the language. Locals referred to Porto as O Porto the port. Forever more they incorrectly added the O to the name. Now Portuguese called the city Porto and much of the English-speaking world Oporto.
Whilst the citizens of Porto are unquestionably Portuguese, they like to be regarded as culturally separate from the rest of the country. They often say, “O Porto e uma nacao” Porto is a nation. They also often say, “Porto works, Braga Prays, Coimbra studies, and Lisbon gets the money.” They feel like a lot of their industry and export supports the economy. From the amount of Port Wine we see here, there might be some truth in it.
Cepelos has been part of many important events. The city is proud of their official coat of arms quote, “a muito nobre, sempre leal e invicta cidade do Porto” the very noble, always faithful, and invincible city of Porto. This is usually shortened to “a Cidade Invicta” the invincible city. It is a title won because of Porto’s unparalleled resistance against Napoleonic troops during the Peninsular war.
JK Rowling lived in Porto between 1991 and 1993. She was working as an English teacher at a local language institute. She was simultaneously writing the first draft of The Philosopher’s Stone. Wandering through the crooked, lantern-lit streets of old Porto at twilight, you’d easily be forgiven for thinking you’d just walked on to a Harry Potter set. The 1906 neo-gothic bookstore, Livraria Lello, and it’s grand, ornately carved wooden ceilings and twisting staircase, bears a striking resemblance to the one described in Harry Potter.
The Francesinha literally translated means Little French Lady. Porto is just about the only place in the world where you can find it. It’s a heart clogging plate of harden-the-fuck up. Essentially it is toasted bread. Then a layer of beef, then bread, then pork, then bread, then ham, then bread, then sausage, then bread, then bacon and bread on top. It gets worse. It’s all covered with melted cheese with a fried egg on top. Then drowned in a spicy tomato and beer based sauce.
The city is very proud of its bridges. Two of which are designed by Gustav Eiffel. Most importantly, for us, they connect the old city with the port wine district of Gaia. Although the vineyards of all of the port wine manufacturers are about 100kms away up the river, the internationally famous export is mostly all stored in gigantic warehouses, known as caves, in Gaia.
Porto is a delightful city to visit. Hopefully it’s still standing for our kids to travel to one day. Please restore and retain your beautiful tiled buildings and history. Maybe the planets will align and they’ll pull their finger out find some money, retain their huge student population. They will rebuild the city and be known for something more than just the city that gave birth to the famous Port Wine, Harry Potter and a fast food chain of piri-piri chicken joints in Australia.