Where we settle in Parede
Olá a todos os meus amigos!1 Another long delay, but due to popular demand (aka nagging), here’s a new entry in the travel blog!
We are currently settled, for now anyway, in Parede, Portugal.
As you can see, we’re pretty close to Lisbon and even closer to the beach. We don’t have a car at the moment, but the train, which goes from Cascais to Lisbon, is a short 700 meters away and runs every 20 minutes. We signed a 2-year lease at the end of April2), so we’ll be here a little while.3
We rented a place unfurnished and visited the single most popular store in Portugal to buy most of our furniture: IKEA.4
(From Kevin: IKEA?? You have got to be kidding me.)
Truly, we love it here. And, things are …. different … from Bellevue. Here are some of the things we’ve gotten used to:
Cobblestone sidewalks. And not always well maintained. Watch your step is the byword.
Business Hours: Many businesses close for lunch. Sometimes for an hour - sometimes for 2 or 3! Plan your visits accordingly. (From Kevin: We usually don’t.)
Pedestrians: Cars stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. ALL THE TIME! It’s freaky and I don’t trust it, but it’s still true. (From Kevin. But, outside of crosswalks? Nope. You are fair game.)
Sunshine. A lot of sunshine. It’s summer now and the temps are in the mid-to-high 20s during the day (Celsius, folks; that’s 70-90F for most of you guys.) It’s gotten into the mid-30s (AKA, Too Damn Hot5, but is mostly pretty darn nice.
Water (related to the above): ALWAYS bring water with when you leave the house!6
Pharmacies: Pharmacies sell pharmaceuticals, beauty products, and baby goods.7 That’s pretty much it. No CVSes or Rite Aids here. And, if you want something other than lotions or makeup, you have to ask a pharmacist. Including vitamins and Tylenol; everything is behind the counter.
Outdoor murals. OK, this is an amazing thing we’ve seen everywhere we’ve been. The public art is spectacular. I cannot capture even a tiny fraction of what we’ve seen.
And not just paintings. The tiling of the streets—
And of the buildings!
And sculpture everywhere!
Street names: Do you want to give someone an address? How long have you got? For context our street name is a short one: Praceta José Figueiredo da Fonseca.8
Tipping: People earn a living wage. A server at one of our favorite cafés is going on maternity leave. Paid. Six months. We still tip because we can’t help it, but it’s a totally different thing here.
Outdoor gyms: Again, everywhere we’ve been they have these great outdoor exercise circuits with machines for working every body part - pull up bars, bench presses, should presses, leg presses, balance exercises, and even cardio machines. It’s very cool.
Taxes: The Portuguese taxes are high, but every penny (sorry cêntimo) that you spend applies. So, we give our tax id number (aka NIF) every time we spend money - and the taxes we pay are applied to our eventual tax bill.
OK, I could go on, but you get the idea!
TL;DR We’re having a great time!
In future posts9, I’ll talk about what we’ve done since we’ve been here. Next time, though, we’ll go back to Ireland; there’s still lots of stories there.
For those wondering how we can stay for two years: we now have Portuguese residency which we can renew in 2024.
The law in Portugal favors tenants. We can leave the lease early, without penalty, if we stay at least a year and give sufficient notice.
Except the bed. Really you have to draw the line somewhere.
Let’s hear it for air-conditioning!
Nope, more water than that.
And, for some reason, pet care items.
When we drive with our navigation system, by the time Siri finishes saying the name of our next turn, it’s too late; we passed it already. Today, Kevin spent 15 minutes trying to tell an Irish vendor our address. (From Kevin: I’m still not convinced she believed me.)
It will not be another 3 months, I promise.
Miss you too! They also (usually) have the crosswalks back from the intersection. It gives the driver more time to react. It wouldn’t work in the US - people are in too much of a hurry to walk a few extra feet all the time.
Good to see you are enjoying civilized street art. You will have more fun on cobblestones when you get a bike :-) We miss you.