Portugal! :)

[Phate]

Hi all,

Some of you know since the end of the big trip we're in Portugal for the longer term. With the hopes of moving to Lisbon soon (pending a job interview on Wednesday!)

Anyway, inevitably I'll be taking lots of photos in and around the country so I thought I'd make a thread to share them out.

Starting off with a festival called "agitagueda" - it's an art festival which started in 2006 in the town of Agueda! It's basically a big festival of colour. During the years, somewhere along the way a tradition started to use umbrellas.

I was also in Lisbon recently, here is one from a park near Campo Pequeno

Not to forget some time in Porto.

If people like the thread I'll keep it going - if anyone has any questions both with regards to the Photography and just Portugal in general, fire away

 

[Phate]

It's a lovely country with lovely people. Are you staying for long or heading back to the UK after your interview?

You forgot the food Cosimo! Shame on you!

I'm here now. Plan on staying here for the long term. I've been very "done" with the UK for a while and needed a change, just before we left to travel last year we quickly relocated everything to Portugal to Ana's parents. The behavioural results from the referendum have made me SO glad to be gone from there. It's embarrassing to say the least.

I'm studying Portuguese, we're looking at apartments. Looking to settle for a little while to save back up and maybe take another big trip. Too many if's to know for sure yet.

 

[Phate]

wow the umbrella thing is super cool, I have never been to Portugal but it's on my list of places to visit!

Do it

If you ever do plan it give me a heads up on here, I may be around to meet up

 

[Phate]

That was taken for granted.

I made a very short video showing a little of Alentejo and will post it here if you don't mind?

Please do!

Same goes to anyone else

 

[Phate]

It's not loading for me, youtube is being weird. Will check it later though

 

[Phate]

Shame the pics are watermarked, I almost had myself a nice new wallpaper!

Ask me nicely and tell me your res and you never know

 

[Phate]

Lovely pics
Were your parents big fans of the Blues Brothers by any chance?

Ha!

Innocent mistake as far as I know!

 

[Phate]

Sorry to Kind derail the thread but... How did you go about finding work? My wife is Portuguese and id rather bring our child up there rather than here.

How are you studying Portuguese? So far I've been using duo lingo (actually pretty good) and asking my wife. But if rather something more structured and want to be fluent enough our son grows up bi-lingual.

Sure no problem, happy to help where I can. Plus it's an exciting new chapter of my life anyway so love to talk about it!

Anyway, well I have my first job interview on Wednesday and a second one lined up on Thursday. I've been looking for work on and off for just under a couple of weeks.

The tech industry in general in Portugal is beginning to boom at the moment. You'll find a lot of big names have large offices here (talking about people like Microsoft, IBM etc) So if you work in IT (like me) you'll be in a good position. Lisbon is doing well in recovering from the crisis, there is a lot of established and new start up tech companies. Not speaking Portuguese isn't an issue for most places. Almost everyone here speaks at least basic English. I've said in my covering letters that I do not speak the local lingo but I'm studying it. Almost all job adverts have a requirement for speaking English.

For studying it, initially I was taking lessons from my girlfriends cousin via Skype. Which was working well, then we went travelling so that stopped and now we're living here. Living here is definitely the best way to learn it. Listening to it everyday I feel like I'm gradually picking it up and understand more of each conversation I hear...and I rate myself as quite thick - its a difficult language to learn, there is no doubt about it. But you need to immerse yourself in it IMO.

Once employed and we have an apartment, and a routine I plan on reviewing what I learned with Ana's cousin originally and then continuing the lessons with her as well. If you would like I can put you in touch with her. Let me know

I love Portugal and everything about it.

My mother is Portuguese (Living in England with my dad) and we have a house in Faro and one on Ihla de Farol.

Part of me is always tempted to not come back whenever I go over there.

Do it! It's better than England if you ask me

Great phoros Phate, love the umbrellas!

I'm off to Portugal for 9 days on the 22nd July! Will be staying in Lisbon and visiting Sintra and Cacais. Going solo with the intent of exploring, taking photos, and doing some cool activities like fishing and kayaking etc... can't wait.

Nice one, there is certainly plenty to do just by exploring and as said, enough locals speak English (especially in Lisbon) that you will have no problems.

 

[Phate]

How much are we talking rent-wise? At the moment I pay £475 for 2 bed terrace.

Course pay is different too though

Varies a lot of course. But in a nice & quiet area 100m2 with 2 beds, 2 bathrooms and recently renovated/new build will cost between €600-€1000 per month. Thats in Lisbon.

Outside of the city or not central I've known rent to be as low as €200 a month for a 1 bed place.

http://imovirtual.com is a good site for looking.

Pay is is lower than the UK but cost of living overall is MUCH lower. Most people earn €1000 a month roughly and live very nice lives on that.

 

[Phate]

Although, saying that about the lower pay. With the tech industry rising here pay for that generally speaking isn't bad at all. My interview tomorrow is for ~€50k pa.

I'm assuming you work in IT though

 

[Phate]

We loving coming and make at least once a year. The language is one thing that we've never managed to get a grip on. Anyway, good luck with the interviews.

Some basics for you.

"Olá" - self explanatory that one
"Sim" - yes
"Não" - no
"Tudo Bem?" - the literal translation is "all good?"
Then reply with "Sim, tudo bem e contigo?" - translates to "yes all good, and you?"
"Eu Também" - "Me also"
"Obrigado" - "thank you" - That is also a masculine/feminine word, so your wife will say "Obrigada"

One last note on Portuguese with Jake for the day, the letter M when at the end of the word is like an 'ng' sound, so Sim sounds like the word Sing. Bem sounds like Beng.



Thank you for the good lucks! I'm excited for it!