FOZ DO DOURO IS THE WEALTHY suburb of Porto where you’ll find Passeio Alegre - the city’s ‘glad stroll’. Sidling up to the River Douro before it opens onto the sea, this languorous promenade is where locals come to be happy; walking among them, I feel it, too. Older folk have set up camping chairs in the shade of palm trees, settling down to watch over a pleasant light traffic of strollers, joggers, rollerbladers and cyclists, vl amble northwest, watching scenery along the walkway become progressively more coastal; first a lighthouse, then waves crashing at a rocky shore. Couples drink coffee in sea-facing cafes, while, in the striped shadows of the Pergola da Foz, a weekend clothes market is getting going. Linen garments on a rail dance in the breeze coming off the Atlantic, as another trader arranges her handmade jewellery on a velvet-draped trestle table. Walking on, I find patches of sandy beach, one occupied by a neon-clad Zumba class, who bop along to Latin pop hits with admirable synchronicity.
Further north, at Leca da Palmeira, is the Piscina das Mares, designed and built between 1959 and 1973 by Portuguese starchitect Alvaro Siza Vieira. Fie also designed the nearby Boa Nova Tea blouse which, perched on a rocky outcrop, houses a Michelin-starred restaurant. Both buildings share an intimate connection with the Atlantic Ocean, but it’s the pool that locals treasure, the joy of summer visits passed from one generation to the next. Built from exposed concrete, it has a subdued palette echoing that of the landscape, while its sharp Brutalist lines contrast with the water eddying at both edges. The fierce wind that whisks at the surface today could explain why, on a Sunday, I have the sun-warmed sea pool entirely to myself, my lengths of front crawl observed only by a squabble of curious seagulls.