Porto in three minutes

This short clip from Rick Steves’ Europe fits Porto into three minutes: the iron sweep of the Dom Luís I bridge, the stacked, tiled houses of the Ribeira, the port lodges across the water in Vila Nova de Gaia, and a glass or two of tawny.

It’s more postcard than guide, which is exactly its charm. There’s no itinerary to follow, just a quick feel for how steep the city is and how close everything sits to the river.

Why I keep rewatching it

I watched it on the train up from Santa Apolónia, the evening before the weekend I wrote about in A slow weekend in Porto, and it set the mood better than any list could. Three minutes is about as long as my kettle takes to boil. I still put it on when I’m missing the Douro at dusk, or when someone asks whether Porto is worth the trip and I can’t find the right words fast enough.