Year: 2025

Gigs from Abroad Part 21 – Porto (Part 1)

In July 2024, Gill and I made our debut visit to the intriguing and picturesque city of Porto (also known as Oporto), Portugal’s second largest city behind Lisbon. I can now see why it was pronounced as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1996, and chosen as Best European destination in 2012, 2014 and 2017 and also became the joint European Capital of Culture alongside Rotterdam in 2001.

In 1387 John I of Portugal married Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. The latter geezer has an old grungy pub named after him in the centre of Lancaster and I am sure you will be unsurprised to learn that I have seen a band there! At that time the world’s oldest recorded military alliance, the Treaty of Windsor was signed between the two countries.

Famous people from the city include Ferdinand Magellan the globe circumnavigator, Olympic marathon winner Rosa Mota, footballer Dioga Jota and Rui Reininho, lead singer of rock band GNR, whose most renowned album was ‘Rock in Rio Douro’ released in 1992 and it topped the Portuguese charts for a remarkable nine months.

The other famous ex-resident is the Harry Potter author JK Rowling who was an English teacher there between 1991 and 1993. It is said that the impressive art deco Livraria Lello bookshop inspired her vision of Hogwarts, and she began drafting the first novel while ensconced in the city. We only managed to view the shop from the outside as we shuffled past as there were astoundingly long queues.     

Livrario Lello bookshop. Image Credit pandotrip.com

The city centre suffered a dramatic loss of population between 1970 and 2010 before tourism breathed new life back into the area, the previously abandoned buildings being turned into shops and fashionable restaurants, and even a McDonalds is now contained within one of those grand structures. My pal Jason Bax captured it perfectly with his apposite description of ‘charmingly derelict’ when he visited the city to attend the Coliseum to see Nick Cave back in 2008.

On our trip, we left from Manchester on a brutally early Sunday flight and arrived in the city late morning and grabbed some lunch opposite our hotel located within a stone’s throw of the atmospheric Sao Bento train station with its 20,000 glazed tiles designed by Portuguese painter Jorge Colaco.  

Later that day we headed over the hugely striking Porto Ponte de Dom Luis I Bridge over the River Douro, where you can walk across either on the lower level or across the higher level with the expansive views and you amble in the shared space alongside the metro. Just prior to there was a chap called Carlos who was serenading the punters with some jaunty tuneage.

Ponte de Dom Luis Bridge I. Image Credit creativemarket.com

Now I must say I am very partial to a good bridge and there are some absolute crackers here with the first one being built in 1806. The Dom Luis I followed in 1886, and another was designed by Gustav Eiffel, the chap who built that other one in Paris! The additional impressiveness only increases when you consider the fact of the extremely challenging logistics of their design as there are such steep drops down to the riverbank. Later on in the trip we went on a river cruise under all of these structures, which was a visual treat.

On the far side of the bridge in the Ribeira area, we arrived at Porto Jardim do Morro which sits at a historically significant location as it was contained within the Serra do Pilar grounds. This area housed an Augustinian monastery built in 1670, that due to its elevated position played an integral role during the Siege of Porto (1832-34) in Portugal’s Civil War. It is also the location of Sao Joao Festival, a traditional event that takes place every June and includes a firework display set against the panoramic background.   

Jardim do Morro. Image Credit portomoments.com

It is a very bonny green space and as we discovered a really popular communal area with a posse of families basking on the grass in the evening sunshine. There were ice cold beers and Ruffles crisps on sale from a nearby kiosko, both of which we obviously partook in and joined the locals in watching the sunset. Whilst we there we witnessed a local singer called Tiago Macarata.  

What I became instantly aware of is that are singers/artists dotted everywhere across the city, thus I have honed the ones recorded in my annals down to acts witnessed outside specific bars and restaurants where we happened to be residing.   

Afterwards we left Jardim do Morro we headed down to the Ribiera riverfront to hunt down some tea at the swathe of restaurants in that area and post-tucker we saw Mick playing a set in Porto Theophilu’s Bar. Later on, outside another bar we saw Sally yodelling on the Porto Promenade.

Manchester Venues 157 to 160

The central thoroughfare in West Didsbury is Burton Road which contains a profusion of independent shops, bars and restaurants. As you turn into the street from Barlow Moor Road you initially encounter Didsbury Mosque followed by a 200-yard stretch of houses before Withington Hospital appears on the left. I first visited there in 1993 when Gill’s mum was gravely ill but remarkably 32 years later, she still remains with us.

Around that time, there was a famous photo taken in the lounge of the one properties on a side street that then adorned the cover of Oasis’s debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’, the house belonging to the guitarist Bonehead. They still have sightseeing tours that visit the house in question but that is always a logistical challenge for them as it is a very thin road with cars parked on either side.

Definitely Maybe album cover. Image Credit musicbrainz.org

Returning back across the road takes you to Manchester Withington Hospital Car Park, which is the location of a large monthly maker’s market. Thus, one Sunday morning in April 2024 Gill and I alongside Tris made our debut visit and were met with the sight of a proliferation of market stalls of every hue. Down at the bottom end of the market was a tiny stage where the local Cancer Research band were playing a set.

On the corner of Nell Lane, you will find one of my favourite bars, the George Charles where they serve Thai food by night. Across the road is in my view the best stocked Co-op in the city which then invokes the old advertising adage ‘if Carlsberg did Co-op’s’!  

Just beyond there after you pass the Folk and Volta bars, you reach the Old Bakery. When I first visited, I discovered to my astonishment and pleasure that they served the Preston delicacy, Butter Pies. However, it obviously couldn’t be as simple as picking up a stash of those healthy snacks there and then, they had in fact to be ordered two days in advance, so naturally that’s what I did!

A butter pie ready to be devoured! Image Credit qualitypies.co.uk

The pie reference then brings to mind the animated heroes of Wallace and Gromit who were created around 40 years ago by the proud Prestonian Nick Park who went to the same secondary school as me, though attended about 10 years prior to myself. There is a bench commemorating his achievements which now sits proudly alongside Preston Market.

Contained within the movies over the years, he has always thrown in sly local references and the odd patently obvious one like the character of Preston the Dog. His piece de resistance though was on his latest film shown on Christmas Day 2024 when Feathers McGraw was escaping on a canal barge and a crate was pictured behind him containing Madam Butter Pies, priceless television!   

Selfie with Wallace and Gromit. Image Credit John Dewhurst

Further on you arrive at Manchester Rustik, which is an independent family run Irish bar. It is a homely establishment with additional tables and when surveying the menu, it appears they serve what look like wholesome belly busting food portions!  

They have live music on from Thursday to Sunday each week and I enrolled Marcus to accompany me on 02/05/24 as I was deeply ensconced in my Project 200 (to visit 200 different Manchester venues) at that stage. On the night of our visit there was an Irish trad band playing.

There is then a trio of Indian restaurants, namely Namaste Nepal, Great Kathmandu and Indique, the latter on the far side of the Burton Road metro stop. These establishments have been visited by Gill and me, quite often with Jo and Paul in tow and alongside sampling their cuisine, we have also naturally compared their Onion Bhaji quality, but still in our combined view nowhere surpasses the Royal Tondoori in Burnage in this regard!

As you arrive at the corner with Lapwing Lane, there is the large Elizabethan pub and across the road is the Manchester Railway. This hostelry for many years was a John Smiths brewery house before being taken over by Joseph Holt in 1999. Apparently prior to a transformation in 2004, it was recognised as the smallest pub in England. The refurbishment and increase in square yards was a result of taking over the cobblers next door and the removal of the archaic outside lavatories!  

The Railway pub. Image Credit zomato.com

It is a cosy old-fashioned venue, and they have regular live music and on the same night as visiting Rustik we saw a singer called Jeff Smith perform there. On one side of there was Simon Rimmer’s Greens vegetarian eatery which recently closed after around 30 years, however that site has recently been reopened by the Porta tapas restaurant. On the other wing is Manchester Zaranda, a soulless cocktail bar where I once witnessed a local singer called Sophie play.