Overall, I really enjoyed Portugal. It has a ceratin rugged reality to it that really appealed to me. Places with alot of tourism just have more of a glitsy, cleaned-up and contrived feel.... but Portugal doesn´t try to pretend to be something it isn´t. It feels real, lived-in andfull of history, rather than like a presentation.
These are a few small anecdotes about daily life in Portugal, through my eyes.
Enviroment
- With such a long history, there are centuries of amazing buildings... too many, in fact, so many are falling into disrepair
- A strong preference for very small cars, like the smart cars
- Being a pedestrian is risky--narrow streets, windy roads, and fast drivers
- Pharmacies are really just that there--they don't have all the snacks and convenience items we do
- Post offices also sell books
- The schedule of businesses is different, usually closing for an hour or two in the afternoon
- All of the main cities have the same stone streets that I first posted about--it is a Portuguese tradition
- Daily schedules are completely different. On any given day people are going out to dinner between 10-midnight! Clubs start getting busy around 3am, and on a night out, they usually go home around 6 or 7 am
- Yay automatic lights! They are everywhere, and really save on electricity waste
Food
- In general, I think the food is pretty gross. Lots of bread, fried foods, and scarce produce.
- Fresh fish is fabulous, easy to come by, and cheap
- Espresso and beer are the most common beverages
- Snack bars are every 30 feet or so, and they tend to carry pastries, espresso machines, chips, and beer
- As a country, they seem to really have a sweet tooth, with no stigmas around eating candy, or having ice cream any time of day (now that's my kind of people!)
- Known for delicious pastries
- Olive oil is used as a condiment, as freely as one might use salt- especially on the fish Bacalou, since it was once dried
- When you get a "coffee", or what we call an espresso, or a pastry at a cafe, you eat it standing right at the counter
- Food is very, very salty
- Grilled chesse (and ham) is easy to find, but they always use just one slice of cheese, and one slice of ham
- Dog poop is everywhere! Truly. It's unbelievable. I stepped in it twice in one week before I just learned to always watch where I am walking.
- Stray dogs abound, but they are very chill, just hanging out without bothering a soul
- At cab stands, when one cab leaves, the others move up... but they push the cab, rather than start the engine!
- Low incidence of crime--I saw people leaving their bags in the station as they walked around!
