Traveling Nomads Hit Portugal for the First Time

Portugal

After three years of a most circuitous route, we Nomads have finally hit the ground in Portugal. So far the country does not disappoint and we think we are going to thoroughly enjoy our four week stay. We are in Monção (“Mon-sow”), a walled village at the very top of Portugal. The river Minho is the border between Portugal and Spain on Portugal’s north side; we are very near that river. Today Mark took a bike ride into Spain; tonight we will go to Spain for dinner. One foreign language is difficult enough to navigate; balancing two is going to be a mental challenge. 

The villages we have traveled through are clean, the countryside is green, and we have found the people friendly. Even in the small village where we are, it is not difficult to find people that speak English. 

Our original aim was to check out Portugal for feasibility as a forever home. On paper Portugal is a good destination for expats, with relaxed requirements for residency. As a resident of Portugal we would not need to count our days in and out of the Schengen treaty countries, and we would have a base for traveling Europe and most of the world quickly and easily. Location to Europe was our first box to check. Weather, cost of living and an easy language to learn are also on the list. Portuguese seems like it would be an easy language to learn; it is smack in the middle of Italian and Spanish sharing many of the same words and similar sentence structure and verb conjugation. We will see how we do actually trying to communicate.

Another fabulous housesit

We have begun a four week house sit that was originally scheduled for March 2020. First canceled due to the initial covid outbreak and postponed until October 2020. Then that was canceled because we Americans were persona non grata in Portugal (due to Covid in teh USA), we could not get there. So the trip was postponed again until now. We felt like we knew these homeowners by the time we arrived here, we have been communicating for so long. Arriving here felt like a visit to old friends. 

We have another large, tidy, well equipped and completely squared-away home to manage. Two career military homeowners, what did we expect. And a nice pool – necessary in this weather. We have successfully traversed from Winter in New Zealand to the middle of Summer here. 

Lovely surroundings. This house is a few miles outside of town. We are about 100 m from a “beach”. This beach is a grass picnic and sunbathing area along a river served by a little bar selling snacks and beverages. The river is more of a tiny creek, but I guess people splash around. It is very busy in the heat of the day.

We are caring for four dogs; three rescues and a snow white pedigree Westie. They range from carryable (the westie) to large, guard dog sized. All have their personalities and some challenges for us. Walking the dogs is ideal with shaded forests all around; a stream never too far away, and vineyards offering shade to walk through. The biggest hurdle is the small herd of sheep and the nearby resident goat the big dog has its eye on. We would not know what to do if we didn’t spy a goat everyday! It is quiet enough out here that we can hear the neighbors chickens laying eggs in the morning – they make the most satisfied cackles when they do. 

Portuguese Vineyards and Countryside

Guess what we are surrounded by? Vineyards! Crush will occur while we are here, that should be interesting. We have been warned getting around by car will be challenging because of all the grape laden tractors on the roads. I have purchased some wine from this adega (winery), you will hear how it is in a future post. 

Every place we go, we find something unique and interesting about the place. Here it is the use of granite. It sure must be plentiful and cheap. It is used for fence posts, vertical foundations and supports for buildings, bridges and fences. Yes, not just the posts, but the entire fence. It is probably the most common fence type we see in this district. Headstone like, but taller, these chunks of granite line the paths where we walk the dogs, outlining ancient farms. Also along our walk is a kiln for making roof tiles; in the middle of the forest. And we trod over one or two Roman bridges every day, still looking sturdy after two thousand years. 

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I have made some friends already: Louisa and Maggie; I am sure there will be coffee and the local market in our future. We are thoroughly looking forward to the next four weeks.

We will not have the chance to explore any of the usual haunts in Portugal, we are a ways from Porto and very far from Lisbon. But we will experience life in a smaller, northern town. While we are here the grapes will be harvested; that will be an experience. Hopefully we will get a sense of Autumn here; we are surrounded by forest beyond the vineyards.