Colours and Patterns in Porto
By Kairi Kivirähk on Oct 1, 2014
The breaths of air in Porto feel so fresh, like the ocean breezes have swallowed all the other smells from the city. Eyes are wondering around the patterns on the walls, the shiny ice-cream shape figures on the roofs, ancient churches and the mighty castles designed with unique tiles. All around Porto you will find local cravings, with various cakes resting on the window sills inviting everyone in causing many happy faces full of sparkle passing by.
“This place is founded and ruled by artistas...” - I think, when I see magnificent wonders of architecture, painters on the streets, musicians entertaining people and amazing street art. Wherever I go there are statues, fountains, patterns, colours, messages on the walls and of course music, music everywhere. Most of the doors don’t simply have a regular door knob but knockers in various shapes, sizes and colours, even though no one probably ever uses them, because unpredictability is more intrinsic for Porto's inhabitants. Streets are narrow, full of cats, clothes are drying on the clotheslines and pedestrian movements consist of only going up and down the hill. Locals have great leg muscles here and everyone else, who stay here long enough, will too.
Festas
Whenever I’ve asked someone how they met each other, the answer I most commonly hear is "at a party". There are a lot possibilities for parties, events, concerts, festivals and a lot more to entertain yourself here in Porto. Every year on 13th of September the city of Porto organises a major music event called Nos D’Bandada, where everyone can enjoy large varieties of music all over the city. It’s like the city turns into one big music festival, wherever you look you can see bands performing and hear music everywhere around you. Concerts take place inside and outside the bars, clubs, galleries, on big stages and small street corners. There have even been some gigs in an old tram which usually still drives it’s daily regular route around Porto. During this festival a lot of streets are closed to cars, therefore the town is filled with people, including dancers, magicians, beggars, drunks, artists, dopers, oldies and youngsters; just everyone enjoying a day of music together.
D’Bandada starts at 16:00 and lasts till morning. During the last festival, my brightest memory of that day was the concert of Throes + The Shines, which was astonishing. It took place on a rooftop bar called Maus Hábitos, which is a cultural club, consisting of an art gallery, bar, restaurant, open spaces and a concert place. The audience went crazy, everyone danced and the drummer started to climb on the ceiling, in the end the audience went on stage and raged with the band. Streets were full of people and everyone enjoyed the city festival and the night's turbulence. Straight after the music festival started another art festival called Push. It's an urban art and illustration festival, where you may find workshops, exhibitions and amazing street art on the buildings, trash bins, on the ground and on the walls. The illustration art over here is mainly surrealistic and psychedelic. My favourite Portuguese illustrators from this festival are Frederico Draw, Andy Calabozo and Ana Aragão. On the 20th of September there was also a mass opening of art galleries on the street of Miguel Bombarda. I lost count of how many galleries there were on that street, but it took us many hours to see all of the exhibitions. The works there were really inspiring and thought-provoking. The names of the artists, whose works started to haunt me were Teresa Rego, Jean-Marie Boomputte and Rui Sousa.
Culture of Life
It seems to me that the city of Porto itself is already so artistic that theatres and cinemas don’t have much to offer for those people who are from here. There are a lot of theatres, with unfortunately very small audiences. Theatre tickets are approximately the same price as cinema tickets, about 5 euros. Small cinemas are closing, Hollywood blockbuster films are ruling the film field and pushing European cinema and even Portuguese films away. There are still some underground places and small bars that are showing those kind of films, but rarely and the audiences are never more than 10-20 people. There is a big Centro Português de Fotografia (Photography Museum) in Porto, which is free for everyone. There you may find many exhibitions critical towards society, observing prostitution, hunting, economical crisis and puberty. The roof-floor is a treasury of old photo cameras, some look like a Camel cigarette pack, other ones look like a hand watch and of course you find all kind of valuable historic lenses and cameras, which I had no idea existed. For old camera lovers, there is also many vintage camera shops, where there are still rather reasonable prices and a great variety of cameras to choose from.
On one afternoon we were walking around and heard disco music, we went in search of the source of the sound, assuming that some youngsters were having a party and to our surprise it was an old lady dancing on her own, alone, enjoying the afternoon. Those weird situations are the culture you find here in Porto - small performances all around you, which make you smile or laugh. Those are the most precious moments and Porto is full of them.
Food Orgy
There are strong peculiarities regarding food traditions in different parts of Portugal. People in Porto seem to prefer eating meat rather than fish and seafood, although it is still possible to get great fresh seafood over here. What is unusual for us northerners is the local dinner time, what is usually around 10 pm and after that people head out to enjoy the nightlife. Restaurants and bars are full of people, families with children are enjoying their dinner and kids are playing around and not only on weekends, but all the time. Pastries here are delicious, the most traditional ones are called Pastel de Natas. The coffee here is served in very small quantities, like espressos. It seems like everyone having a coffee is attending a childrens tea party. The wines here are cheap and really good. Port wine was invented in Portugal and Porto is nowadays the most known port wine producer. Just across the river Douru is Vila Nova de Gaia and its famous wine cellars, where it is possible to taste their port wines and get acquainted with the process of making the wine. In addition, people here enjoying super cute beers named Super Bock but in 20ml bottles, locally called Minis.
There are a lot of small businesses, cafes, fruit shops, confectioneries and small bars everywhere. The street we live on is about 100 metres long and we have four small bars and three small shops on it. Our street is not special, it is like that everywhere in Porto. The beautiful co-operation system here is also worth mentioning. They have public horticultural areas, where people from that commune can grow plants, vegetables and share those with each other.
Morning Hide and Seek
On Saturday mornings, it seems like the city is totally abandoned, only empty bottles and a few people leaving the last party are found still wondering the streets. The truth is there are many more people who are actually active, but they are hidden. One remarkable place which I visited was the flee market next to the Douru river, where people sell their old stuff from home or things they have stolen. There you can find just about everything and anything - toys, furniture, clothes, food, statues, art pieces, machine parts and so on. It starts around 7am and lasts only for a few hours. In addition, on some Saturdays there are bird markets, where you find all kind of different birds in cages, also some fishes and rabbits are sold at this market. However, I didn’t see anyone buying birds, everyone was simply observing them and moving forward.
Freedom is very valued in Porto, maybe that's why no one really wants to buy a bird in a cage. Porto's people have one really positive side - they don’t care what others are thinking and don’t label people. Here it is not important whether you are you talking with a famous person, street-artist, punk, policeman or even a homeless person, they are all communicating in the same direct way with one another. I see all these people, at all ages, as if they were stills kids, who never grow up, in the best sense. The communication with the people of Porto is full of laughs, jokes, games and fooling around. I think Porto is one of the best place to get laughter therapy, learn acceptance and the importance of every individual.
Reccomendations
Artists:
I came to Portugal with the Erasmus program with my partner to study Cinema and Audiovisual Arts in Esap - Escola Superior Artistica do Porto. The school was formed in May 1982. In Esap it is possible to study animation, fine arts, cinema, visual arts, design communication and multimedia, theatre studies and architecture. Esap consists of three buildings and each one looks like an endless labyrinth inside. When we went to register ourselves into the school we met the school mascot, Esap the cat. Esap chills around in lectures, supporting students during exams and feels right at home, like the king of his castle. There is even a pullover designed for Esap students, which has a Puma symbol on it. School here starts in the beginning of October. Usually, September is still considered vacation time for locals and the city is full of festivals and parties.
All photos courtesy of Kairi Kivirähk