Santos Populares - São João, São Pedro, and the year's warmest night
Foto: Karen Laårk Boshoff via Pexels
23 June. Northern Portugal is in the street. Porto explodes for São João - the wildest night of the Portuguese year: plastic hammers people use to bonk strangers on the head (yes, that's the tradition), São João balloons rising, grilled sardines on every corner, midnight fireworks over the Douro.
From the Villa, Porto is 50 minutes. We recommend: park in Matosinhos or Boavista (the centre is impossible), metro to Trindade or Aliados, dine on sardines in Fontainhas, stay for the fireworks.
A week later (29 June), Viana celebrates São Pedro - quieter, with a night festival in Praça da Liberdade, folk marches, walks along the riverside to Cabedelo. The smell of sardines follows you the whole way.
The Villa is open to late arrivals these days - Carolina leaves you a key. Buy a clay basil pot at the São João entrance: it's said to bring luck for the year.