Hi everyone 🤍🤗

Today I want to share the beginning of a journey that turned out to be much more than just a trip.

Lately, we kept feeling drawn to Portugal — not just as another destination, but as a place we somehow needed to be. It wasn’t about ticking off a new country, it was something deeper. After everything we’ve been through, after losing our hometown Mariupol, we made a quiet promise to ourselves — to keep living, to keep feeling, and to keep searching. Searching for a place where something inside us could feel calm again. Where we might feel at home.

This trip was planned for February 10th. We wanted it to be special — to spend Valentine’s Day by the ocean 🌊 and celebrate my husband’s birthday not just as a date, but as a real, meaningful moment. But as it often happens, things didn’t go as planned.

Because of a storm warning, our plane had to make an emergency landing in Spain. In that moment, everything felt uncertain — a mix of stress, confusion, and exhaustion. Spain wasn’t part of our plan, and the thought of a long bus ride to Porto didn’t make it easier. But sometimes things shift unexpectedly. They told us the plane would refuel, and in just 15 minutes we were flying again. It felt like a small miracle — like the road was still leading us where we were meant to go ✈️

We arrived in Porto late at night. Tired, overwhelmed, but with that quiet feeling of anticipation. And in the morning, everything changed.

After the cold of Germany, Porto welcomed us with soft light, warm air, and a feeling of early spring 🌿. The city didn’t try to impress — it just existed as it is. And somehow, that was exactly what touched us.

On our first day, we went to the main market — Bolhão. We weren’t rushing, just walking, observing, taking it all in. And then we saw king prawns… huge, almost unreal 🦐 We had never seen anything like that before. There was something almost childlike in that moment — pure surprise. We couldn’t resist. Later, my husband cooked them with Portuguese white wine 🍷, and that dinner became one of those simple but deeply memorable moments. No rush, no noise — just taste, warmth, and the feeling that you are exactly where you should be.

After the market, we decided not to plan anything. No maps, no routes. Just walk. Let the city guide us.

The architecture of Porto surprised us instantly. Ruined buildings stand side by side with new ones and historic architecture, blending together in a way that feels chaotic but honest. And somehow… familiar. Graffiti, textures, broken walls — none of it felt abandoned. It felt real. Alive. The city doesn’t hide its scars — and maybe that’s why it feels so easy to breathe there.

Without planning it, we found ourselves at the Luís I Bridge.

A two-level bridge, not too crowded, but still alive with movement. We walked all the way across, watching the river, the city, the rhythm of life around us. On the way back, we chose a parallel bridge — quiet, almost empty. It felt almost funny, like two different worlds existing side by side: one full of people and energy, the other calm and almost private.

The wind, the view over the city, the metro passing across the bridge 🚋 — at some point, everything came together into a very strange feeling. As if we had been there before. Not with our eyes, but somewhere deeper. And in that moment, there was something important — a feeling of freedom… and at the same time, a feeling of home.

That’s how our first day in Porto went. Even though it rained from time to time 🌧️, it didn’t ruin anything — it only added to the atmosphere. By the evening, we felt that pleasant kind of tiredness that comes after a full and meaningful day. And we returned to our temporary home with a quiet understanding — this city had already become a little bit ours 🤍

To be continued — and we’ll leave the ocean for Part 2 🌊