Forty-Eight Hours in Porto, Taken Slowly

Most city guides are written as if you have somewhere else to be. Porto deserves the opposite approach. It is a city built on hills and patience: port wine ageing for decades in riverside lodges, tiled facades weathering slowly in the Atlantic air, neighbours trading news in the same squares their grandparents did. Rush it and you see a postcard. Slow down and it starts talking to you.

Here is how I spend two days there, with as little planning as I can get away with.

Friday evening: arrive, then do almost nothing

Drop your bags and walk downhill. In Porto, downhill always leads to the Douro, and the Douro is where the city makes sense. The Ribeira waterfront gets busy at sunset, so keep walking along the river until the restaurant terraces thin out and you can hear the water again.

Dinner should be simple. Look for a tasca, a small family-run place with paper tablecloths and a handwritten menu. Order whatever grilled fish they have that day, a plate of batatas a murro, crushed roast potatoes soaked in olive oil and garlic, and a jug of vinho verde. Do not check the reviews. If the room is full of locals, you are in the right place.

Saturday: one neighbourhood, properly

Start early at the Mercado do Bolhão, the city's grand old market, where stalls are stacked with cheese, olives, salt cod and tins of sardines in packaging almost too beautiful to open. Buy a few things for a picnic, then walk east into Bonfim, a residential quarter where the cafés are unhurried and the azulejo tiles on ordinary houses rival anything in the guidebooks.

Order a galão, a milky coffee served in a tall glass, and a custard tart still warm from the oven. Then wander without a plan. Notice the laundry strung between balconies, the tiny grocery shops, the way so many streets seem to end in a view.

The best souvenir from Porto is not a bottle of port. It is the habit of looking up.

In the afternoon, cross the Dom Luís I Bridge on its upper deck and visit one port lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia. Just one. Book a small tasting rather than the full tour, and ask questions. The people pouring tend to love what they do, and the best stories are never in the script.

Saturday evening: the light show nobody sells tickets for

About an hour before sunset, climb to the Jardim do Morro on the Gaia side of the river. Bring your picnic and something to sit on. As the sun drops, the whole of Porto turns gold, then pink, then a deep glowing blue, and the bridge lights flicker on one by one. On a clear evening people actually applaud. It never gets old.

Sunday: a slow tram to the sea

Ride the old number 1 tram along the river towards Foz, where the Douro finally meets the Atlantic. The carriages are wooden, the pace is gentle and the view gets wider with every stop. Walk the seafront promenade until you are properly hungry.

End with a long lunch facing the ocean. Order the octopus, take your time over dessert and let the afternoon go wherever it wants. You might miss your train if you are not careful. That is usually a sign the weekend went well.

A few practical notes

• Wear proper shoes. The hills are steep and the cobbles turn slippery after rain.
• Go in shoulder season. Spring and early autumn bring softer light and fewer crowds.
• Mind the kitchen hours. Many restaurants close between lunch and dinner, so plan your appetite around them.
• Leave one afternoon empty. It will fill itself.