The rooftops of Porto stood out for me. I did not feel for once that I was in Europe. Instead I felt like I was transported much closer to home.
The green doors and windows, some dilapidated old ruins happily coexisting against multicoloured pretty buildings in the historic city with the river Duoro passing lazily through it just made me feel so nostalgic about my birth city Kolkata. Not that I have lived there for too long, but a certain snapshot of memory from my childhood (age 2 or 3 perhaps) comes to mind. Sitting on the edge of the terrace wall of my grandparent's (rather old) four storied apartment building, looking down at other rooftops, I think I felt very much like I was at the top of the world.
It is fascinating how the mind makes connections. How we draw parallels between something old and new in a single breath. How we see the world around us, the way we want to see it. The way it makes sense to us. And the fact that each of us are seeing a different world through the filtered lens of our individual experiences.
There is always a lot to sit and reflect about, and the many cafes of Porto make it quite easy to pause every now and then and take that very required life changing sip of coffee.
I was amazed at the variety of savoury and sweet snacks that was available at any local confeitaria as well. Casually walking into any local bakery was a delightful experience in itself. I will most certainly want to go back to Porto again some time, if just to eat great food, and experience a strange sense of familiarity in a city I am most definitely a stranger.
Sell Coffee, not your soul
The green doors and windows, some dilapidated old ruins happily coexisting against multicoloured pretty buildings in the historic city with the river Duoro passing lazily through it just made me feel so nostalgic about my birth city Kolkata. Not that I have lived there for too long, but a certain snapshot of memory from my childhood (age 2 or 3 perhaps) comes to mind. Sitting on the edge of the terrace wall of my grandparent's (rather old) four storied apartment building, looking down at other rooftops, I think I felt very much like I was at the top of the world.
It is fascinating how the mind makes connections. How we draw parallels between something old and new in a single breath. How we see the world around us, the way we want to see it. The way it makes sense to us. And the fact that each of us are seeing a different world through the filtered lens of our individual experiences.
There is always a lot to sit and reflect about, and the many cafes of Porto make it quite easy to pause every now and then and take that very required life changing sip of coffee.
I was amazed at the variety of savoury and sweet snacks that was available at any local confeitaria as well. Casually walking into any local bakery was a delightful experience in itself. I will most certainly want to go back to Porto again some time, if just to eat great food, and experience a strange sense of familiarity in a city I am most definitely a stranger.
Sell Coffee, not your soul
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