Story of a magical jogging through Porto, by Oliver Balch to The Guardian

"First runs in a new location are memorable, even magical", says Oliver Balch, writer and blogger that published his memorable and magical experience of running in Porto in the British daily newspaper The Guardian.

Oliver Balch writes about runs and travels around the world and in a "cinematically sequenced" narrative, Balch describes his impressive "encounter" with Porto.

According to Oliver, "the world around transformed into something palpitating and enlivened. Everything looked brighter, sharper-edged, more given to meaning, perhaps even to magic".

Up to this day, the author says the experience in Porto still lingers in his mind and he can still feel the waters of the Douro river glimmering "brilliantly as though flirting with the sun", and continues by stating that as he jogged "the urban landscape seemed to be shouting out, clamouring for my attention. Every bit of it. Pavements declaring their narrowness; roads announcing their cobbliness; riverbanks proclaiming their steepness. Every section of the run had its song, every step its specific note".

Oliver states that he was "intoxicated" by his Porto experience and deeply treasures the memories of his depart into the "neat row of palms to the wave-washed lighthouse, to the seabirds in the shallows, to the river-front flats and their washing-line balconies".

Read here the full article.