After 26 months in Spain, we returned to Portugal and gained some interesting first impressions. Here and now, I’m willing to take the risk of a small personal comparison.
Spaniards are lively, speak loudly and often all together, laugh a lot !!!, and are highly sociable and communicative. They always listen to some hits and can’t live without (loud) music. In short, they are lovable, vibrant people in the land of millions of smiles. I love it all!
Portugal is quiet. People (including tourists) talked to each other at ‘normal’ volume. Smooth jazz is played in cafes or restaurants as background music. As far as I saw, Portuguese people met, spoke a few words, and walked their way. Totally unthinkable in Spain. The other day in Ayamonte, or Cadiz or Alicante, name it: An elderly gentleman sat at a table, three chairs vacant, let’s say for two minutes and twelve seconds. Another pensioner dropped by, talked to the one at the table, and took a seat. The two attracted the attention of two other gentlemen or ladies. Since they were all talking, more people came by from wherever. Thus, ten people sat in two rows around that small table. The story is even more likely for young people, as we saw again and again in Cadiz. Half an hour or sixty minutes later, they said goodbye and went their way. I dare to make a bold prediction: would we be able to speak Spanish well – I mean good enough for a fluent conversation – we would not sit on our own for long.
Back to the Portuguese, who are literally quiet people. I found it very irritating that they all spoke English right away. It looks like I have become much more accustomed to minimal conversations in Spanish, as I had noticed.
Exciting is the local climate, Algarve, Lagos: so far mild, daytime air temperature around twenty degrees, in the night between twelve and eighteen. Maybe a bit more humid than in Barcelona last year in December. The winter so far (as of 19.12.22) is comparable to spring in our region in Germany, end of April; the chirping birds saw it the same way. Today, we went to a lighthouse high on the rocks of the Algarve to take pictures of predicted waves of 2.5 to 3.0 meters. Maybe they had half of the height at the coast, surprisingly calm. The forecast showed that the waves were rolling in from the west. Hence we were in the coverage of Sao Vincente, a good protection.
Did I write about the cost of living? In August 2020, our first day in Spain, we felt like Aladdin and Alice in the supermarket; amazingly low prices. Yesterday in Pingo Doce (and only there, Lidl is yet to come), Lagos, we were amazed at the reasonable prices in Portugal. Two examples: fresh orange juice in Spain is about 3.90, in Lagos 2.6. Diesel, gas station, Spain 1.80 here 1.68. I know prices fluctuate like a double bass player’s bow. Am I right, Pablo?
Lagos, Portugal
