Ok so I made a list of some of the things I miss about the U.S. But here is a list of what I love about living in Portugal, and especially Tavira. These are in no particular order, because it is way too hard to choose what I love most. It’s a small list for now because I am sure you don’t want to read a whole novel, but these are the big ones.
The Beauty– Portugal is a gorgeous country overall and Tavira is so picturesque. From the traditional architecture and historical buildings and structures with the traditional Portuguese tiles (Azulejos) to the abundance of fresh, beautiful flowers that line the streets and crawl up the buildings. It is so unbelievably stunning. The beaches are breathtaking as well. Tavira itself didn’t suffer much damage from the huge earthquake that destroyed much of Portugal in 1755 so many of the buildings date back hundreds of years before that to the 13th century. During my daily walks around town, I am often just in awe of all the beauty that surrounds me.
Pics of Tavira 💙
The People- The Portuguese people are so nice. They are warm, lovely and peaceful. They greet you when they pass you in the street. They are also extremely helpful and patient with my limited language. When we were doing research on moving here, we kept seeing how wonderful the locals were and all the accounts were true. There are also so many amazing foreigners and expats here. I have made some incredible friendships with some of them. Also since Tavira is a pretty small town, everyone eventually meets each other and it’s been wonderful meeting so many people from so many places with so many different life stories and backgrounds. We all have a different history and former life, but we are all able to bond over our new life in Tavira.
Friends!!!
Living in a walkable place- I love being able to walk to the gym and the grocery store. I love even more walking home from the bar after hanging out with friends and not having to worry about it. Tavira is an easy town to get around without a car. It doesn’t have as many hills as other towns in Portugal either which makes it a lot easier. It’s actually easier to get around in the town center walking than it is driving. I have had my car for about 6 months now and have never once driven it in the center of town. It would take longer to get there and find a parking space than to just walk over. Bodhi especially loves that we walk everywhere. He loves exploring every day.
Safety- Safety is a huge one! Coming from America where there is so much crime and gun violence, it is such a relief to feel safe. I could write an entire essay about how much my anxiety has reduced since moving here. People here are peaceful. They also don’t have easy access to guns. Hunters have guns and they are all registered. It’s just not a thing here, and I really don’t think they care. I experienced multiple situations with gun violence and crime and had pretty severe anxiety and PTSD because of it. It has taken time and I’m still working on it but I feel so much better here. Even just being a woman in America is scary. There is so much violence that happens against women. I can walk home here, on a dark street at 1 am and I don’t feel nervous or scared, I don’t have to carry pepper spray or have my keys braced between my fingers just in case. Even our homes feel safer. There is a locked door to get into our apartment and the front doors here, at least ours, don’t even really have a doorknob. There is literally no way to open our front door without a key. It’s been so good for my soul to feel this amount of security and safety and I don’t think I would ever want to live in a place where I don’t feel that again. Almost every expat I know counts safety as one of the reasons they moved to Portugal. It is currently listed as the 6th safest country in the world on the Global Peace Index. The United States on the other hand is #129.
Affordability of everything- One of the biggest eye openers here is how much less most things cost here. From going out to eat or drink to buying groceries and normal household necessities, things are just more affordable. There also aren’t a million choices of basic products. For instance, toilet paper. There are maybe 2 or 3 choices and an 8 pack costs a few dollars. Why in the world is toilet paper so expensive in the States?! It doesn’t make any sense. Additionally, services like cell phones and the internet. We have a bundle package of cable with some premium channels, fiber internet, a landline (which we never actually hooked up) and 2 cell phones with 40GB of data each and our bill each month is €66. Our internet is fast, we have a ton of tv channels in both English and Portuguese, and our cellphones have great service and work all over Europe. In Vegas, our internet bill alone was almost $120, it sucked and cut out constantly.
Restaurants are another big shock. You can go out to eat and have a wonderful meal for 2 and the bill won’t be insanely priced. Coffee costs maybe €1-3 depending on the place and what kind you get. Wine is as low as €2-3 a glass. You can get a prato do dia (plate of the day) at a lot of restaurants. It will typically include couvert, which is like a small appetizer, usually olives or bread and butter, a main dish, a dessert, a drink (typically wine, beer or water) and a coffee. Most places charge between €9-13 for this. The most we have paid at any restaurant in Portugal was maybe €80, and that has only happened maybe 2 or 3 times. Those were at nice restaurants and had appetizers, drinks, main courses, and desserts. Comparatively, the same quality of meal in Vegas would easily cost $200+.
Being here and seeing how everything is just more affordable really opens your eyes to how ridiculously expensive things are in America and for what reason? Why do things have to be so expensive? It’s not like the quality here is worse, especially when it comes to food. What is the purpose of the extreme difference, except apparently to fund the giant corporations that profit off of everything. When the price of eggs soared in the U.S. they were still the same low price here. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Food- Besides as being more affordable, as I just ranted on about, the quality of food is so much better. There are a bunch of chemicals and preservatives that are illegal in Europe. Because of that, everything is automatically fresher and in my opinion, healthier. I know more of what is going in to my body and I much prefer that. I care alot about my health and body so it is very important to me. Produce also tastes better. As long as I have lived, I have always hated tomatoes. I used to hear people say that if you tried a good variety, they are delicious but they were always just unappealing to me. Once I moved here, I really like tomatoes! I will buy one and just eat it sliced with a little salt, I even crave them. It is so weird to have switched like that but they just are so much better here. Also so many foods that are part of the typical Portuguese diet are naturally gluten free. I can eat out at almost any restaurant and not have a problem finding gluten free options.
Public transportation and traveling- Getting around in Portugal is generally pretty easy. The train is super cheap and easy to navigate. I live less than 5 minutes walking from the train station so it’s super convenient. I haven’t used the buses but they seem pretty accessible and easy also. In Porto and Lisbon there is also the metro. We also have Uber and Bolt. When it comes to flying, getting to other European places is pretty easy on low cost airlines. We flew to Paris in November and round trip flights were less than €100. I flew to Porto for €16. I have a trip to Barcelona in June and the flight was €25. The Faro airport is only 30 minutes away from Tavira so it’s super easy to get a plane from there. And if I need to fly out of Lisbon or travel there, a train ride costs €30 for first class and gets me there in about 3 hours. It’s so easy to get around and makes exploring Portugal and all of Europe so much easier and affordable.
Environment protection and conservation- Europe and Portugal are great with protecting the environment. Portugal has actually been rated one of the most eco-conscious countries in the world for years. There are recycle bins all around town that get emptied regularly and they are all color coded. We have 3 separate bins plus a trash can in our apartment. One for glass, one for paper, and one for plastic and metal. Almost anything you purchase is recyclable and a lot of the packaging even tells you which bin it goes in. There are electric car charging stations all over. Toilets have the dual flush buttons. Bidets are legally required in all homes. Heated dryers aren’t really a thing because they use so much electricity. The dryers that do exist are condensation dryers. Portugal also does not use coal for electricity production anymore. They have also taken measures to protect the cork industry for a very long time. Cork is a huge environmental and financial asset to the country and is a very eco friendly material. Besides wine corks, it can be used for so many things. It’s waterproof and strong. There are shops all over Portugal that sell a ton of items made from cork from bags to shoes to jewelry and household products.
Medical care- We are required to carry private health insurance here for our visa but we are still able to use the public health system as well. We have only needed medical care a couple of times but it was very easy. My husband has a genetic blood condition called Hemochromatosis and he needs to donate blood every few months. It took a little bit of time to figure out where to do that, but once we figured it out it was very easy. I needed to see a doctor and I went to the private clinic. My copay was only €16. I had to get some blood work done and that cost about €80 because of a specific test I needed. However, had I gone to the public hospital it would have been cheaper or free. Additionally, our health insurance here is much cheaper. We pay around €75 a month but it covers me, my husband, and we have insurance for the dog and cat. There are also no deductibles. There is a waiting period for some things but overall it’s much better. And again, we can use public health care.
Pace and quality of life– One of the best things here has also ironically been one of the hardest to adjust to. The pace of day to day life, the quality of life, and the work/life balance. No one is in a hurry here. People are very relaxed and actually enjoy life. Most things close for at least a couple of hours in the afternoon for lunch. Holidays are celebrated for days and most places are regularly closed for them. If a holiday lands on a Thursday, it’s likely that things will be closed from Thursday until Monday because everyone should be able to celebrate. It’s a huge difference from America where businesses won’t shut down for most holidays because there is money to be made. I worked way too many holidays and missed out on countless celebrations because of it.
Even eating out is relaxing. When you go to eat at a restaurant, there is no need to rush. Dinner can easily go on for 2 hours or more because you are meant to enjoy it and the company you are with. The staff also doesn’t work for tips, so they don’t care how long you take to eat, and if you do rush through it they will probably joke to you about how you should slow down and enjoy it. It was a big adjustment because I was so used to rushing through everything in the rat race of life. It was like we rushed everywhere to get nowhere. Now that I am getting used to it, I love it! It is still hard to eat slowly though, but I am working on it.
There are so many more things I love about living here and my new life, but like I said, to list them all would fill a book. But these are the main things and maybe the most important. I hope I inspire you to at least visit Portugal because it is such an incredible country!
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