Portugal is an amazing country, and I really enjoyed my time spent there. I was there from mid-September to mid-December, 2021. The vibe of the country is just great – sunny, laid back, dry, comfortable. Good food, cheap wine, and an endless amount of things to do and see. I lived the dream! Working remote, making friends, dancing on the beach.
Ok, now bust out the world’s tiniest violin for me. It was actually harder to manage than it looked. Between the time zone difference, social obligations, keeping up with work, trying to develop a routine, and small doses of culture shock, it sometimes felt overwhelming. I still would do it all over again, though.
Lisbon was charming, and I really enjoyed living there day-to-day. Taking a stroll down the street, I loved all the colorful tiled buildings, the trollies ding-a-linging, the occasional waft of fresh bread in the air, everyone hanging their clothes out to dry. The city is a Goldilocks size – not too big, not too small. More than enough to keep you busy – whether you’re into the outdoors, partying, the food scene, art scene, museums, etc. Lisbon has it all. Not to mention, my gym was awesome!
Porto really surprised me, and I wish I had spent more than 3-4 days there. The layout of the city was incredible. With just a short walk along the bridge over the river, you’re able to see Porto from the other side, which is just stunning. A really great food scene and nightlife scene too – and quite close to the beach, although I never made it there. The Douro Valley is spectacular and not to be missed. All the little quintas and villages up high on vast amounts of fertile land. You could spend days just touring around wine country there.
The Algarve and the coast in general was spectacular as well. The general theme of the coastline was high cliffs with beaches down below. A surfer’s paradise, for all levels. I got to visit many beach towns along the coast – both big and small. Nazaré was #1 on my list to visit because of its infamous world’s biggest waves, but I didn’t make it this time. Something to save for next time!
For the first half of the trip I stayed at Outsite – which is a co-living / co-working space. It’s like a hostel for grown-ups who mostly work full-time or part-time jobs. Everyone lives in their own rooms, but with a shared kitchen, bathrooms, and common spaces on each floor. There are several companies like this sprouting up to cash in on the digital nomad trend – and I see this model only growing in the future as more of the workforce chooses to travel. There, I met some cool and interesting people for sure, and it was nice to have a built-in network of people to hang out with.
As far as meeting people in general, I didn’t meet as many locals as I would have liked. I managed to talk with a few. But I found myself hanging around a lot of foreigners and speaking a lot of English. That’s somewhat to be expected though – I mean, I don’t have a command of the Portuguese language at all, and the average person wouldn’t be able to get into a meaningful conversation with you in English. I maintain, however, that I just didn’t try hard enough, and that’s OK too.
Overall, Portugal was a very positive experience. I will say that the length of 3 months (max amount of time at once for US citizens in EU) was interesting. It was enough to see the highlights of the country, but not quite long enough to feel fully settled in, or really get the hang of living there, or make real, solid connections. It was more than enough time to decide if I would want to live there long term, however.
Personally, it’s on my radar as a potential long-term landing spot. Portugal has a lot going for it, and it has many incentives that are attractive to foreigners. However, at this point in my life I’m really focused on learning and practicing Spanish. And so for now I’m focused on spending more time in countries that allow me to get closer to my goal of becoming fluent. Which means that if I decide to do this whole Europe thing again (maybe next summer?) I’d likely settle in Spain and see how that goes.