But that was more than 36 years ago, and I am sure that an extended number of German football fans have watched yet games in Porto since that time and enjoyed a good glass of port wine.

Porto and port wine and the Douro River are inseparable, as are the German – French friendship, which were celebrated repeatedly as well as for the 60th anniversary of this year in January in the German Gymnasium and French Lycée of Porto.


Credits: Facebook; Author: @FCPorto;

Getting to Porto from Germany is a breeze these days and unbelievably cheap with budget airlines, all of which offer regular flights for a weekend or longer. As I have just seen, there are also flights in March for sixty-five euros round trip. These costs are less than a dinner at the Italian restaurant in Hanover or in Offenbach, but you can still enjoy the daily menu in Porto in some local restaurants for less than 10 euros. I cannot say that about Germany, because when I was in Munich in the summer of 2022, I paid for a cup of coffee and a mineral water.

But further in the text: As they say, Porto is a historic city that offers every visitor a variety of options, be it culture, history, nightlife, sports, music or even "just" a dinner in the "Zona Ribeirinha". Here are the banks of the river Douro, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean in Matosinhos. In the "zona ribeirinha" are the famous small restaurants, where warm dishes of the Porto region are offered. On the other side of the river, you will find the wine cellars of Port wine, which is stored here, and which can be tasted very easily everywhere with a visit to the wine cellars.



There are also Port wine brands such as Burmester, Köpke, Andresen among others with Dutch and German influence, or co-owners. This was created at the beginning of the 18th century by the settlement of German merchants in Porto who then exported the port wine together with Dutch and English merchants. Germany currently imports only 3.2% of port wines produced in Portugal. This is also since there are increasingly fortified wines that are also produced in Germany and thus move in the same market segment.

If we now come to modern times, all German Instagrammers should know that Porto 2019 was voted the best "Instagram location" in Europe. This made Porto the destination par excellence (except for the pandemic in 2021) for young people who want to have fun at the weekend and enjoy the wine and/or cocktails outdoors until after midnight, because unfortunately this has become increasingly the exception than the rule in Germany today.


von Paulo Lopes - Casaiberia Mediação Imobiliária, Lda

Author

Paulo Lopes is a multi-talent Portuguese citizen who made his Master of Economics in Switzerland and studied law at Lusófona in Lisbon - CEO of Casaiberia in Lisbon and Algarve.

Paulo Lopes