Move over Lisbon, it is time for Porto to take over. Portugal’s second largest city has spent way too long in the shadow of the capital, an underestimated and underrated beaut that is as much about history as it is the future, as much about faith as it is art. It isn’t a city of contradictions — no city truly is — but Porto is the kind of place that has its cake and knows full well that it can eat it.

The Douro river provides an eye-catching anchor to it all, allowing the city to rise either side of the water with elegance and confidence in equal measure. The picturesque riverbanks elicit heady sighs from early in the morning until late at night, the view sharp enough to convince visitors that they absolutely must move to Porto. That is if the train station hasn’t already done the job.

This is the sort of place that holds beauty above all else, a city that is home to Europe’s mots beautiful railway station, it’s most graceful McDonalds, the world’s most gorgeous bookshop and a whole host of churches that could make believers out of the hardened cynics. Don’t resist Porto, it is utterly futile. You can try, but it only takes one glance at the famous Francesinha sandwich to realise just how silly resistance is. This city’s time has come, and boy is it long overdue.