About Porto.guide

I’m David Fernandez, I moved to Porto around ten years ago. I came here curious, with bad Portuguese, and with no real idea how many small things you have to learn before a city starts to feel like home.

Since then I have lived in Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, and in the centre of Porto. That changed a lot how I see the city. Porto is not only Ribeira, the bridge, and the pretty streets everyone takes photos of. It is Gaia when you cross the river for wine cellars or dinner, Matosinhos when you want the sea and proper fish, and the centre when you learn which hill was a bad idea after lunch.

Settling in Portugal was not always romantic. I had to deal with NIF, addresses, appointments, government portals, passwords, documents, and offices sending me to another office because one paper was missing. Sometimes one person told me one thing and the next place told me the opposite. It is part of integrating here too. You learn patience, you learn to bring extra copies, and sometimes you lose a morning for something that sounds very simple.

Porto.guide comes from all of that: years walking around, eating in simple places and nicer places, using the metro and buses, crossing between Porto, Gaia and Matosinhos, helping friends plan visits, and slowly understanding what makes this city easier to enjoy.

I still discover new places and I still get surprised by Porto. That is one of the reasons I like it. The city can be beautiful, stubborn, confusing, generous, wet, loud, quiet, expensive in the wrong street, and perfect ten minutes later. I don’t pretend to know everything, but I know enough to help people avoid some mistakes and enjoy the city more.