Welcome to Porto - Results Please!

 And the winner is:

CEDOFEITA/SANTA CATARINA Neighborhoods

They are a little trendy, bohemian neighborhoods known for their art galleries, independent shops, and diverse dining options. Both of these streets have pedestrian only areas and that is where we are aiming. They have residential over retail with mostly 3-4 story buildings. They are close to, well, everything. The Old Town on the Duoro River is a 20ish minute walk. Museums, activities, parks, and the beach are all within reach. The public transportation system is plentiful. Buses, trams, funicular and metro are all within a few minutes walk. Trains to access most of Portugal are available through one of two major stations: São Bento and Campahna.

The cons are: It's rainy season is a bit unicloudesque. It's pricier but not as pricey as Lisbon. It is somewhat touristy.

Here are some videos to show you the charm of these neighborhoods

Rua de Santa Caterina                               Rua de Cedofeita

Why we didn't choose:

BRAGA - We actually liked Braga quite a bit. If there comes a time where we are not as active as we are now, we would consider it. The lack of ability to walk out your door and go 'do' something is pretty limited.  It's lovely and we can take day trips there.

COIMBRA - JR described it best - the neighborhoods we would want to live in don't align with the services for which we are looking. There are very few flat areas and for the most part, the streets are pretty steep. The Old Town was lovely and again, we will probably visit there to hear some Fado and enjoy the touristy part of Coimbra.

SÃO MARTINHO DE PORTO - This lovely beach town would be great if you one was looking for a super quiet place that was mostly flat. In order to take part in most larger services - grocery, etc. - one would need to go to Caldas da Rainha (many do) or one of the other larger cities adjacent. Like the Portuguese, I would also vacation here for a few days.

CALDAS DA RAINHA - We had high hopes for this artsy town. Like Braga, it's just a little too small for us. It is lovely tho. Also, there was not a lot of apartment inventory and most don't have any type of heat exchange system other than open windows. It doesn't get as hot here, but since I'm allergic to the heat, we can't take a chance that it will be cool enough in addition to the size of the town.

For our VISA appointment, we must have a 1 year lease with a registered property/owner. That appointment is January 15th. Chances are our lease will probably start before we are able to go,but that's part of the process.

Next:  Obtaining a D7 (passive income) VISA and learning Portuguese

Welcome to Portugal - Unexpected Lisbon

 

It being a small town, We had seen all we needed to see in Caldas on the first day. We thought why not take advantage of the free day to see a bit of Lisbon. Lisbon has a more metropolitan vibe than Porto. It is the most populated city in Portugal and is also the first place in two weeks we saw any bike lanes - protected and unprotected, but clearly marked.

We viewed several areas that had been recommended including one area that was proclaimed to have best of old town with the modern conveniences of today. Yes, and No. Since it wasn't on our list, we walked around a bit and decided to visit the Zoo which is across a major road from the bus and metro station.

These lovely murals, and others, were painted on the columns holding up the street.

The Zoo is HUGE. It is a throwback to the older style zoons like Brookfield outside of Chicago but clearly takes care of their animals in these oversized habitats. It is very charming. And hilly. And a wonderful way to spend a Sunday not 'working'.

This guy was sitting in the window well overlooking all his buddies, but he only had eyes for me for about 30 seconds.

This  mom and baby were very active in the enormous raised platforms of their home.

The pelican JR is 'holding in his hand' was HUMONGOUS.

This parrot had the courtesy to sit and let me frame him in front of the murals that decorated his habitat.

We saw this lovely statue at the entrance to the zoo. Someone had placed a stick in the monkeys hand and of course, we had to make a photoshoot out of it.

This has been a real, hard working 2 weeks to find our new community and our brains and bodies were fried.  Fortunately, the zoo had a McDonalds and we had about an hour and a half before our bus left, so burgers & beer it is.

This beautiful guy was casing the McDonalds and trying to get the visitors to give him fries. There is a sign asking the visitors not to feed them, but as you might expect, the other American visitors did it anyway. He put on a nice show for me, but never did raise all his feathers; I guess I'm not his type.

Next Up:  And the winner is!

Welcome to Portugal - São Martinho do Porto and Caldas da Rainha

After have almost 2 weeks of rain, the sun came out and blessed us as we travelled southwest to São Martinho (pronounced Sow Martinyo) do Porto for a brief stop to see some of the silver coast and meet some expats. The city is lovely. Around 3-5,000 permanent residents live here and it is a hotspot for Portuguese vacations. It has a bay area so the roiling Atlantic sounds are not as active here as in Faz do Duoro. It's flat, has some services, an active art community and a beach vibe.

Sandee and Lloyd, the expat artist couple we met, showed us a lovely cafe for brunch. It was very delicious and I had two cups of  Garoto. They shared their experience of moving to Portugal and life in a small town. It was a wonderful morning.  Fortified with information on Caldas, caffeine and a tummy full of yummy food, we set out for Caldas.

São Martinho is about 10 miles away from Caldas da Rainha, so we called an Uber rather than wait for a train/bus as being Saturday, the schedule was reduced. The ride, including tip, was €10.

Caldas is a small town of about 60,000 people near the Silver Coast. It's quaint Old Town area is adorned with Christmas decorations, art installations and murals. They also have a mall where in we stopped for a snack and some beer. There's also at least one large park and multiple green areas.

Although Caldas has a train station, the bus station is the hub of travel. You can get to pretty much anywhere you need via clean, sturdy, new buses.

There is a history of birds/swallows here and they have several art installations paying homage.  They also have a several installations of different sculptures.  My favorite is this black cat.

One of the restaurants had converted the front of a Vespa into a menu/host stand and it was super cute.

Caldas is a nice town with services albeit a bit closed down - even the restaurants - on Sundays. It has quite the personality.

Caldas also affords the opportunity to take a less than an hour bus ride to Lisbon. It hadn't been on our radar, but we did talk to some expats who live there (friends of friends) and they thought we should check it out.

Our hotel had a wonderful breakfast included. What we did find a little interesting was the decoration that included the dead field animals on a plate that hung over the bread section. At least they weren't field dressed?

Since we took a cab in, we hadn't seen this adorable frog water fountain until later in the day. It adorns traffic circle outside the train station .

Next Up: Lisbon

Welcome to Portugal - Coimbra

COIMBRA:

'Kweenbra' or 'Coymbra' - The way it's pronounced depends on the region of Portugal in which you are standing. We heard it both ways from a variety of people and were assured they were both correct.

Coimbra is home to the University of Coimbra, a UNESCO world heritage site. It has a highly regarded medical curriculum, sustainability and the population is quite diverse.

The day was a tad rainy when we arrived, but held off most of it's downpour until later in the evening. The city is well adorned with phenomenal marble buildings.  Below is three shots of one of the main squares in the old town, going from left to right.

We were warned that Coimbra was quite hilly.  That doesn't cover the half of it.

For scale of steepness - and this goes on for about 300 meters.

Please enjoy the data from our walks around Coimbra and it's elevation.  

Day 1

Day 2

 We took a bus to some of the higher elevations to see how the bus system was.  They do eventually come regardless of what the schedule says.

The old town is quite nice and right by the river. The Mondego River is also a wonderful walk. Fado in Coimbra is sung by men, whereas in other areas are sung by women. The street art, etc. was fun and we did get to walk along what was the old city walls.

Part of the  Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrimage routes across Europe that end at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. These wayfinders aren't obvious, but are interspersed along the route.

 The town is quite beautiful at night.

We did have a wonderful room at the Hotel Astoria right on the Mondego River at the base of old town. This shot was from our 'turret' room in the castle like structure.  We had three windows giving us an expansive view. Our stay included breakfast and I think for 2 days, it was $175.

JR has a video of our room here

The breakfast area was amazing

We ended the second day with a Royale with cheese and a chicken sandwich. We were exhausted and just wanted to go to bed so Burger King fed us and gave us €2 beer (for 14oz). The beer was tasty and the food consistent.

Next up - Caldas da Rainha by way of São Martinho do Porto