31st Oct, 2018 – reflections on Portugal

Final day in Portugal and back in the capital to pick up my flight back to France. Yes, I’m going back to the frogs, but more on that later. While here, I was able to catchup with my cousin from Brussels, who I haven’t seen since Easter 2011, when I visited from Edinburgh. We went for a walk after lunch yesterday and I happened upon this place, which I had only seen from across town.

National Pantheon – 17th-century baroque church (Santa Engrácia) turned into a mausoleum

For my last few hours, I’m taking a rest day and typing this from a cozy bed, as it has been raining somewhat incessantly. We went from blissful summer to dreary winter in 24 hours. Perhaps a good time to reflect on my month in Portugal.

The people here are friendly and helpful, especially the younger generations. Top tip– if you’re lost, or having troubling communicating with, say a bus driver, who can’t seem to grasp the concept of a roundtrip ticket, find a teenager! Never thought I’d say those words! English is obligatory in schools here and any youngster will have at least a basic level of understanding.

Right, where was I? I would venture to say that the attitude here is definitely laid back and the Portuguese are much warmer than their European counterparts. This is reflected in their tendency to stop and ask if you need help, if you happen to be standing in the middle of the pavement, let’s say, trying to find the page in your guidebook with the directions to some site. They also never have a cross look on their faces and are very approachable.

There are some lovely areas of the country and I especially like some of the white-washed hilltop villages, with their red-tiled roofs and pink bougainvillea vines spilling over wrought-iron gates, all under azure blue skies, which often matches the tiles on the houses.  My personal favorites has been a few of the coastal towns…being able to wake up near the sea everyday is something so elemental, it is hard to put into words.

Speaking of the sea, this was my last morning in Cascais, before I hopped on the train to Lisbon. The rain overnight had cleared the air and we got a lovely sunny, but breezy morning on the beach.

I have to admit, I struggled with the food, which tends to heavily rely on meat, starches, seafood and baked good and not as many vegetables. That is not to say that I didn’t have good food, because I did, but you have to seek it out and can be a bit trickier to find, especially if you’re on a budget. As you may imagine, wine is abundant here. I discovered there is such a thing as white port and liked it so much, I’m going to try and find back in the US. Apparently, there are many grape varietals in Portugal, that doesn’t exist elsewhere. I may have to come back and learn more about these. If I do, I will need to invest in a basic language course. The language is a struggle, the pronunciation in many cases is nothing like the written word and it is most definitely nothing like Spanish!

It’s been a good month, challenging in some aspects, but overall a worthwhile time. I think I will definitely come back to Portugal! Oh, almost forgot…there’also some  good looking men here!