What about the city of Porto? It was the city that saw me born and where I lived practically all of my life until I moved to Warsaw, Poland, in 2014. Naturally, I have a very strong emotional attachment to this city and I know how it breathes and how it feels. I had the opportunity to hold three photo sessions for this project with three fantastic dancers: Bárbara Silva, Vasco Yu and Filipa Bacelar. I also had the opportunity to hold a session with the talented and beautiful gymnast Carolina Semide. We visited several places in the city but, of course, there is still so much to show 🙂

Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal and one of the Iberian Peninsula’s major urban areas. Porto city has a population of 237,559 and a metropolitan area with 2.4 million people (2019) in an area of 2,395 km2 making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. Located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and its core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as “Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar”. The historic area is also a National Monument of Portugal. Its settlement dates back many centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin of the name Portugal, based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. Port wine, one of Portugal’s most famous exports, is named after Porto, due to the metropolitan area, and in particular the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, are responsible for the packaging, transport, and export of fortified wine. In 2014 and 2017, Porto was elected The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency. Porto’s most popular event is St. John (São João Festival) on the night of 23–24 June. In this season it’s a tradition to have a vase with bush basil decorated with a small poem.