Porto
Writing

Porto is Lisbon without the self-consciousness.

The Douro · Azulejo tiles · Working river city

Porto is what Lisbon would be if it hadn't become fashionable. The azulejo tile facades are chipped and unrenovated. The port wine cellars sit on the river bank with the directness of industrial buildings, which they are. The port itself is a working river — not decorative, not a setting for restaurants, but a river that has moved cargo and people and occasionally bodies for centuries. Porto has not performed itself for visitors. It remains stubbornly local.

"In Porto the hills go up so steeply that the city has funiculars where other cities have stairs. Going up is mechanical. Coming down you walk, which gives you time to reconsider everything."

Tumbleweed Words — Porto

The Porto pieces focus on the specific texture of a city that hasn't been smoothed by tourism — the rough edges, the unrenovated staircases, the old men in the tascas who regard strangers with interest rather than calculation. Minimalist fiction finds its material in exactly these places: the ordinary, the unimproved, the human.

David — Tumbleweed Words Flash fiction and poetry written on trains, in hostels, and in city streets. Published in Litro, Adelaide Magazine, Cleaver Magazine, and The Dundee Anthology. Pushcart-nominated. Five years on Substack.