I was looking forward to visiting the UNESCO listed Old Porto. It started off well with picnic breakfast by the water and a meander along the South bank.  Lots of photo opportunities of the North bank from across the water.  The reality of the old Porto was a huge come down as very many of the interesting areas were barricaded off for repair/refurb, and the areas that weren't cordoned off was covered in a crazy amount of graffiti. So many buildings (20%) are abandoned and crumbling.  After a few enquiries, I found that during the Global financial crisis, the world focused on the bankruptcy of Greece. Most didn’t realize that Portugal was also going through a difficult period. In 2011, Portugal received a bailout from the EU to prevent bankruptcy.  Also, in the early 20th Century, the Portuguese government introduced a law to protect the poor. This law makes raising the rent almost impossible and the landlords cannot evict their tenants either. This is good for the tenants in the city as they could live in the centre cheaply. In some cases, tenants were paying only 20 Euros a month in rent living in the city centre. Since the landlords are not getting enough rent for their investments, they are not incentivised to fix or renovate their properties.