Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #: 7 Last Update - 2022

Greetings from Porto.

We're busy getting packed for a short visit to CA for the holidays so I thought I would close out the year with my last update for 2022. Looking forward to seeing family and friends and celebrating Christmas.

Early last week we made a trip to Lisbon. Unfortunately for us, the two nights we were there were also the two nights that Lisbon had some of their worst rain ever. After arriving by train we took an Uber to our hotel. Along the way we passed by the waterfront and noticed this huge building, or so we thought anyway. It wasn't until we were almost past the building that we realized it was a cruise ship...the biggest cruise ship we've ever seen. It was the Epic, part of the NCL line, which carries 4100 passengers, 1724 crew, and has over 2000 rooms. I had to google it because it was so Incredible. Personally I would be afraid to sail on something that big. That evening we headed out to the big historic square near the waterfront just as the rain started, so we found a place to have a drink and snack to wait it out, but the rain got even worse, so after two drinks, we decided to stay and order dinner. Once we were ready to leave, we then had to make our way over to another street (we were on a pedestrian only street) where we could call for an Uber. The rain continued to come down in buckets. After two unsuccessful tries with Uber with neither driver able to even find the street we were on, we made our way over to a bus stop to wait for a bus that could get us close to the hotel. The rain never let up. By the time we got back to our room, my UGGS, the only shoes I brought, were completely ruined, having soaked through to my socks and feet. The next morning I had to use the blow dryer to dry the insides enough for me to wear them to a shoe store, buy a new pair of boots, and toss the UGGS in the trash. The next night we went down to the same area because I'd been hoping to get photos of all the Christmas lights that I missed the night before. This time we decided to get photos first, as there was rain in the forecast again. After taking photos we found a place to have dinner and once again, the rain started. And again it was coming down in buckets. We managed to get a taxi and got back to the hotel in better shape than the previous night. It continued to rain all night along with thunder and lightning. The following day, sunny and clear, we were taking a walk around the neighborhood and saw that many small businesses had been flooded, one even was pumping water out into the street. I later learned that an invalid woman living in a basement apartment drowned and one major tunnel had almost 10 feet of water. We walked over to Time Out Market, a wonderful stop in Lisbon (and featured on "Somebody Feed Phil" on Netflix) to wander around and have lunch before catching the train back to Porto. Next time we decide to visit Lisbon, we'll do it at a different time of year.

Back in Porto, Ron, whose home we're buying, invited us out for a day to show us a little arts district here that we were unaware of. First stop was a tea garden/cafe for some tea and cakes. Then we visited a number of galleries and met some of the people Ron has gotten to know since he's been living in Porto. We finished up the day going to Ron's favorite restaurant in the Foz (the area where the river and the ocean meet) and had dinner at his favorite little restaurant, a family owned place. We had a great day, and he's such an enjoyable chap.

This past Monday we closed on our new flat. Buying real estate in Portugal is a different experience. The morning of closing we had to go to our bank and obtain a bank check, Cheque Bancario, (similar to a cashiers check) made out to Ron. You are required by law to present a bank check drawn on a Portuguese bank account. We were all there...Ron, the two of us and both of our realtors. A notary is required by law to read the deed out loud before anyone can sign the documents, and it must be read in Portuguese. Neither Ron nor the two of us understands Portuguese, so our realtor then had to translate everything into English for us. We didn't have to sign nearly the number of pages that we've had to sign in the U.S., so from that standpoint, it was easier. Once we finished, we went out to lunch and then Ron invited us over later in the day to celebrate with a nice Prosecco that he'd obtained. The three of us then went to dinner at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Believe it or not, now we get to apply for a three-year break from paying property taxes. We did have to pay 6% of the purchase price in taxes at closing and our future property taxes are in the $600/annually range.

Yesterday as we were walking to the bus stop we ran into a couple, Andrew and Nicole, whom we met at the Thanksgiving dinner we attended. They recently moved to Porto from Little Rock, Arkansas, bringing their two teenage children with them. Turns out they live across the street from our rental...small world (again). After chatting with them a bit we agreed to get together in January for dinner.

Last night we went to an InterNations event here in Porto. I joined InterNations last year before we moved and we've only attended one event thus far which was back in February in Cascais where we made friends with a couple from Maine. The photography group of InterNations Porto was taking a walking tour of the historic downtown area to capture all the Christmas lights. We had a great time and the people we met were so nice. Our tour guide, David, is also from the Netherlands originally and moved to Porto in September. Others were from Angola, Brazil and the U.S. The weather was beautiful, and we walked around for about three hours. I've posted many of my photos on Instagram but I'm also attaching some to this email for those who don't use Instagram.

One last thing...did you know that Portuguese is the third most spoken language in the world? Brazil has the largest population that speaks Portuguese, followed by Angola and Mozambique. Portuguese is actually the official language in seven countries. This was quite surprising to learn because when you think of Portugal, it's not a big country in size, however, Portugal was once a world power and had many colonies around the world.

Off to bed. Tomorrow we fly.

Boas Festas!

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #6: She Meets a Sidewalk Up Close

Greetings once again from Porto, our happy place. Here's the latest news:

Our shipment finally arrived and there was no damage. Everything was packed so well and so tight. Since we'll be moving to our new flat in February, we opted not to have the movers unpack and put things away; however, we did have to unpack some boxes just to inspect for damages, since there is only a 30 day window to make a claim. I was thrilled that my big MAC computer arrived in perfect condition and is now my go-to computer. My laptop has been fine up to now but you see, I had an accident a few weeks ago and fractured my left forearm (I'm left handed so this is a real pain). My keyboard can be placed on my lap now, making it easier for me to type, though mostly I'm doing this with only my right hand.

So, what happened...we were walking back to our apartment after a day of shopping and I tripped on the uneven sidewalk and went sailing before crash landing on my left arm. I did manage to bang up my right knee, elbow and palm in the process. The pain was excruciating, and once I came to (I wasn't knocked out but I was completely dazed), Nick and a young man passing by were able to get me on my feet again. A waitress at a nearby cafe guided us to a table outside and brought me water while I was going through shock. After a few minutes I realized that the pain was so bad that I needed to get to urgent care, and the waitress called an ambulance for us and stood outside waiting for it to arrive so she could direct them to me. Four hours later we left the hospital with confirmation that I fractured my left radial something-or-other, my arm wrapped tightly and having finished an infusion of pain meds. I was lucky that everyone, including the paramedic, spoke English. Unfortunately for me, I won't be back to normal for some time. Losing the use of my dominant hand/arm is a new experience for me. Last week I returned for a follow up exam and it appears to be healing nicely. I'm to begin physical therapy in January. We paid nothing for the visit by the way. But enough about klutzy me.

For those who haven't seen my Instagram post from Halloween, I've attached a photo here.

Yes, Halloween is celebrated here but we weren't clear how it's done and since we live in a high rise with few children that we're aware of, we just didn't expect to have callers. Our doorbell first rang at 10 p.m. and Nick answered the door. A young girl was there with her parents. Nick apologized for not being prepared, having no candy to give her. He did remember some figs we had and offered her those, which she happily accepted. The second time our doorbell rang it was after 11 so we didn't bother answering...after all, we had no more figs to give. The following morning we opened our door to find that we'd been toilet papered! What a hoot! What we're still not clear on is whether kids just come out late to do their trick or treating or if they come late because November 1st is All Saints Day and Portugal, being a very Catholic country, most everything is closed that day so nobody is too concerned about getting up early for work or school. All we know is that next year we will purchase a bag of candy and be better prepared.

The following week we attended a dinner celebration at our friend Solange's restaurant. It was the Sao Martinho (Saint Martin) celebration, which apparently is celebrated in many countries at this time of year. In Portugal it's also referred to as the "Summer of Sao Martinho. (a day to celebrate the maturation of the year's wine production) which involves roasted chestnuts and a particular Portuguese liqueur called Jeropiga, which is a sweet liqueur wine made from Brandy and wine must. The chestnuts were roasted in a baking dish with lots of salt...it was a lovely pairing. The story connected to this celebration involves a Roman soldier who was traveling on horseback in a horrible rainy storm when he encountered a poor beggar. The soldier was concerned about the poor man so he cut his warm cape into two pieces and wrapped one piece around him. At that moment the clouds and rain disappeared and the sun came out to warm them. According to Solange, every year at this time the cold weather disappears and we have sunny days, which is exactly what happened this year.

Ron, whose flat we're buying, invited us over for drinks recently and the plan was to go to dinner later in the evening. We arrived at 5:30 and he had a spread of crackers and cheeses along with drinks. He's such an interesting man...originally from Amsterdam, worked for KLM airlines, lived in a variety of places including Israel. He's traveled extensively and may be in Dubai at the moment. Before we knew it, it was almost 10, so the three of us walked over to a diner he frequents and had a late meal and then we walked home from there. I think we have a delightful new friend.

Recently, we started shopping for major pieces of furniture in earnest and now have those pieces set to be delivered in early February. Honestly, we've been to so many furniture stores, and for the most part, Nick has been an enthusiastic participant. We've been taking advantage of "black days" and "black week" sales recently, which is what they call them here. Porto is a big furniture shopping mecca, with some people coming all the way from the Algarve to shop here. A lot of wood furniture in particular is manufactured in and around Porto, and in fact, we ordered a custom made dining room table for a very reasonable price. Beds here are very interesting because box springs aren't used and the majority of bed frames that we've seen are platform style in various heights. They come in all kinds of finishes from real wood to fabric and you can even order headboards to match. Depending on the size of the bed, there will be one or two handles at the end of the bed for lifting the platform/mattress to reveal a huge storage space inside. They use hydraulic lifts so it's not hard to lift your mattress however it does take some muscle to pull it down again. Some even have special sections just for storing shoes but most are just big empty spaces for storing whatever. No more vacuuming under the bed or trying to pull out boxes from underneath the bed...very clever design.

We had a wonderful visitor for the past week who departed yesterday for Turkey where she had recently been living. It was a fun week showing Linda around, although that's not exactly what we did. Linda has lived in a number of countries and usually rents for a year or two before moving on to a new location, though she did fall in love with Vietnam and spent 9 years there. She is more interested in interacting with local people than in seeing all the tourist sites. though we did manage to show her a few. We took her to the new Mercado Bolhao which I talked about previously and I swear that any vendor who spoke English to her made a sale. She bought all kinds of produce from a variety of stalls as well as nuts, canned sardines, and cheese. She chatted with everyone. Her goal is to see what the people are like and then decide if this is a place she would want to live for a while. We also visited our favorite Vietnamese restaurant twice during her stay and she made friends with the owner and his wife. One day we accompanied her to the Turkish Consulate office here in Porto as she needed some assistance with her Turkish visa. Finding the office was very difficult and as we wandered around the huge office complex she asked a receptionist in a real estate office if she could help. Soon a realtor came downstairs and asked if he could assist us and before we knew it, he and Linda were discussing real estate because Linda had been a realtor. Meanwhile the receptionist was busy making phone calls trying to track down the location of the consulate's office. Soon a handsome young man walked into the office, the sole representative for the Turkish Consulate here (and only a part-time gig), however before we could accompany him to his office, both the realtor and the receptionist had to hug Linda goodbye. Then we found out that this young man is an architect and has a rather thriving business not only in Portugal but in a number of countries and one of their current projects is a concept store for Ikea. His office was full of staff working on projects but he took us to his conference room and offered us coffee and water before spending roughly half an hour with us chatting. By the time we left, the staff were all seated at one long table eating lunch and they were smiling and saying goodbye. It was a crazy, fun experience. My guess is that Linda will return to Porto early next year and investigate the rental market however Oaxaca, Mexico is still in the running as well. Rents have been going up steadily here due to the popularity of Portugal for expatriates.

Saturday Nick and I boarded the Metro to go downtown. My arm is still in the early healing stage so I had my sling on. The metro train was quite crowded and there were no seats available so Nick was trying to steer me safely to a standing section however this amazing little dance of sorts started when a woman noticed my arm in a sling and immediately offered me her seat. As I was trying to make my way there, others on board were reaching out trying to make sure that I got to the seat safely because the train was moving rapidly. Once I sat down another woman in the seat behind me got up so that Nick could sit near me, while yet another young man got up and gave his seat to the first woman who had given up her seat for me. It was this amazing bit of movement by a number of people all happening at once. I am always so impressed by the simple acts of kindness that I see from the Portuguese people.

On Wednesday we'll be taking the high speed train to Lisbon to spend a few days. I'm hoping we'll finally get to meet Gloria George in person. She used to reside in the same retirement community we did in Brentwood however we never met. It's only been since we both learned that we were moving to Portugal that we got connected so we're looking forward to meeting her in person.

Our language lessons continue, although I had to take a two week break after my fall. I normally take lots of notes when studying and I haven't been able to write. We've started watching television shows that are either in Portuguese with English subtitles or English shows with Portuguese subtitles. The more we see it the more words we come to recognize. Sometimes it feels like we're in a race to become fluent quickly and yet I know that for me it will take a few years to feel confident with the language. Nick is much better at this than I am.

That's all for now. Next week we'll be taking in all the Christmas light shows around town and checking out the Christmas fairs as well.

Adeus, abraços e beijos.

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #5: We Visit the Mercado in Porto. We Buy an Apartment.

Greetings friends and family,

So much news since my last update. In late September we got to see our former neighbors from Brentwood, Heidi and Jere, who were on a tour of Spain and Portugal and had a free hour+ between events. It was great to see them and catch up. Heidi remembered that I am gluten free and brought me some GF treats from Trader Joe's! What a sweetheart. That same evening we were dining in our favorite little neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant when I heard a woman with a very heavy Russian accent standing at the counter, talking with the owner. I was sure she was the same woman (Madina) who we met back in March when we were here scouting for a place to live. She noticed me staring at her and immediately made the connection and came over to visit with us. In March we first met Madina while dining at a Portuguese restaurant and this time it was in a Vietnamese restaurant. It turns out that she lives in our neighborhood. Four days later we again ran into Madina, this time dining with her friend from Denmark, Eva, who also now lives in Porto. Eva's mode of transportation is her bike, and it's not electric. I love that we get to meet such interesting people from so many different countries. Since then we've been out to dinner with Madina and she had us over for hors d'oeuvres last week. Madina and Eva will be coming to our place for dinner once we get moved in and settled.

Parque de Cidade is a gorgeous city park very near the flat we're buying so we walked over there recently to check it out. The park is quite grand and has restaurants, lakes, a sports area and tons of trails to walk and ride bikes. This will be a great place to picnic next time we're there. It's very close to the ocean as well, as it meets up with Matoshinos, the neighboring town to Porto.

If you have seen my photos on Instagram, our new Mercado do Bolhao finally opened in downtown Porto.

The city spent the last 3-4 years transforming a grand old building that occupies an entire city block into this fabulous Mercado. Lots of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, olives, breads, wines and ports, fish, flowers, etc. It was bustling with people on our first and every visit since. It's now a tour stop as well, as I've already seen a number of tour guides giving talks to groups as we're shopping. The Mercado is a three story building that will have restaurants on the upper floors and 38 shops on the exterior of the building. It's really magnificent. We bought some bread (yes, for those of you who know that I am gluten-free, I can actually eat a type of cornmeal bread that is a speciality here in northern Portugal), some freshly sliced presunta (like prosciutto), olives, goat cheese, and some lovely red wine (2.50 euros a glass) and sat at a little bar and enjoyed our lunch. You can also purchase a glass of wine or port and drink while you are shopping. What a wonderful place...this will be a weekly stop for us and a place we look forward to showing to future visitors.

Actually, we've already done that once when we met up with a couple (Michele and Peter) who are friends of a friend from Nevada. They were in town for two days so we arranged to meet up at the Mercado to show them around. Peter marveled at some of the prices of nuts and produce...so much cheaper here.

Last week we made the down payment and signed our CRCV (like a Promissory Note) to purchase the flat. I must mention that our realtor recently responded to an email we sent asking some questions about the seller's responsibilities. One thing we learned is that the seller doesn't even have to leave the "light balls" (light fixtures). We laughed and laughed about that. Back to the signing...It was an interesting process because we met the seller and all signed the document at the same time at his realtor's office, then we all went to the flat so we could take measurements and he could show us how things work.

The seller, Ron, is from Holland and is a delightful man who has travelled the world extensively. He converted one of the three bedrooms into a den, connecting it to the living/dining area. He then opened up the kitchen with a large pass-through so that sunlight brightens all three areas. He added lots of storage areas as well. He also turned the pantry into a laundry room, eliminating the washing machine in the kitchen, which is a very common kitchen fixture in Europe. Portuguese flats tend to have small bedrooms and often small kitchens as well, but he did a great job transforming this space and making a very comfortable and workable kitchen.

He showed us all around the apartment and opened a bottle of champagne as we celebrated. He's also taking us to dinner in the next few weeks and wants to take us to the arts district here as well. We will close on the purchase in mid-December and he will rent back from us until the end of January, at which point we'll have some painting done and move in by the end of February. Purchasing a home here is definitely different than in the states. There's not nearly as much paperwork and there are no escrow accounts. By the way, Ron is leaving his "light balls" for us too.

And our big news.....it's official...we're residents of Portugal! Thursday, October 20th we attended our final immigration appointment in Coimbra with our attorney Manoela. Manoela did most of the talking and we just signed paperwork, had our criminal background checked, got our pictures and fingerprints taken, and received our approvals. It may take 90 days to get our actual residence cards in the mail however we now have documents showing that we're residents. Afterwards we went out for a celebratory lunch with Manoela and her husband. It was quite the journey to get to this point and such a relief to have it behind us.

Now cue up the Twilight Zone music.....last week while we were standing at a bus stop another couple also waiting struck up a conversation with us. John and his wife Mary Lou (what are the chances!) come to Porto when they can and always rent the same Airbnb. After exchanging contact information we agreed to meet up for dinner on Friday (last night). Yesterday morning I got a text from John telling me that they met another American couple at the same bus stop who are here looking for a house to buy and he wanted us all to meet for drinks prior to our dinner date. When the other couple, Eric and Andrea arrived, we were exchanging small talk and learned that they are also from California...they live in El Segundo, Nick's hometown. Andrea grew up in El Segundo and attended the same schools that Nick did, albeit many years later as they are much younger than us. Andrea asked Nick his last name and when he told her she looked quite surprised and asked if he knew Stephanie Molinaro. "She's my niece." Andrea was Stephanie's best friend since elementary school. We actually attended a birthday party for Stephanie many, many years ago and I remembered this stunning blue suede dress that I thought Stephanie was wearing but it turns out Andrea was wearing the blue suede dress and Stephanie was wearing a version in red. Seriously, what are the chances! Eric has named our group of six the 500 Club because we all met at a bus stop waiting for the #500 bus.

And another small world experience...our friends Ed and Rhonda, whom I've mentioned in previous write-ups, were in Porto again earlier this week and we again met up for dinner. Ed and my sister attended the same high school in Fresno and graduated a year apart. On this trip they brought another couple with them, Carl and Kris...Carl also attended the same high school as my sister. His wife Kris grew up in Walnut Creek and she still has family there...her sister lives within a mile of my daughter's home in Walnut Creek and her mother lives in Rossmoor, the retirement community in WC. Such a small world!

And finally, we're getting closer to receiving our shipped goods. They arrived in Rotterdam and made it through customs without any issues. Now we're waiting for word on the delivery date. And we continue on this very difficult path of learning this difficult language. Don't even get me started on irregular verbs!

Adeus, abraços e beijos,

MaryLou

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #4: We Begin Our Portuguese Language Studies

So much to share since my last missive.

Nick and I started a Portuguese language program, much of which is online but with two live zoom meetings each week. Have I said before how difficult this language is to learn??? Did you know that the numbers one and two actually have masculine and feminine versions? We say dois copos for two glasses but duas garrafas for two bottles; um menino for one boy but uma menina for one girl. If I am introducing myself to someone in Portuguese I must say that my name is "a MaryLou", while Nick would say "o Nicholas". Speaking fluently will not happen overnight but we are constantly trying to use new phrases we've learned, which often ends with the Portuguese person trying to help/correct us, though always in a friendly manner. Our cupboards, kitchen drawers, bathroom mirrors, even the inside of our front door, are covered in post-it notes, with words or phrases we're supposed to learn. Daily we're doing drills online, trying to memorize and learn to conjugate verbs.

A few weeks ago we attended our first expat get-together, put on by a couple whose YouTube channel we follow, Expats Everywhere. It was a very nice get-together at a lovely outdoor bar area downtown. We met a number of Americans at this one and the first question was often "What made you leave the U.S," as opposed to Portuguese people who always ask, "Why did you choose Portugal?" Without discussing politics it was quite clear why we all chose to get out of Dodge. One reason we chose Portugal was because of how safe it is to live here. The country ranks in the top 10 safest countries in the world. No one carries a gun and we never hear of theft. Two examples: I left my cell phone in an Uber car back in July after being dropped off at the bus depot in Aveira. A few minutes later I heard someone calling my name; it was the Uber driver, running to find me and return my phone. A few weeks ago Nick lost his cell phone and we were sure it was lost for good. The following evening I received a call from a man letting me know he'd found Nick's phone. It was another of those situations where he speaks Portuguese and I couldn't understand more than a few words. My first thought was how did he get my number because he didn't have Nick's code to unlock it but he mentioned something about Vodafone, which is our service provider. Apparently the guy who found it turned it over to someone he knew at Vodafone. Once again it was our landlord Nuno who stepped in to help us. I gave Nuno the phone number of the guy who called me and he reached out to him. We had the Sim card disabled in the meantime. A few days later Nick got his phone back.

We had our first guests! Our good friends John and Sylvia Avey, who we've known since we lived in Dallas in the 90's and who also once lived at Trilogy at the Vineyards in CA, spent a week with us recently. It was great fun to actually show people around our new town, dine at our favorite restaurants, and tour the Douro Valley with them. For anyone planning to travel to Porto, the Douro Valley should be on your list of places to visit. The views are spectacular, with the vineyards clinging on steep hillsides surrounding the river. Our tour guide, Jose, spent 10 years studying to be a priest, working in many countries before leaving the Seminary and returning to Porto. He and his family also own a small vineyard in the Douro Valley.

In all we did quite a bit of walking during John and Sylvia's visit and had a fair amount of alcohol as well. And we certainly never starved for food. They are now quite familiar with riding buses and taking the metro everywhere. Porto is such a colorful town and such fun to wander and discover new places in little alleyways. As sorry as we were to see them go, we know they will make a return visit.

Last Thursday we spent the day with our new realtor and her side-kick. Yes, we are committed to Porto and have decided to buy our own place, a flat rather than a house. It was a long day, looking at five different places. We've made an offer on a very eclectic place and are awaiting an answer. If we don't get this one then we will start looking again. Here's another interesting fact; buyers must pay a fee before closing that is somewhere in the range of 6-8% of the purchase price, depending on the cost of the property. That is not a fee paid to the realtor but rather taxes. On the flip side, property taxes we'll have to pay are less than $600/euros annually. Condo fees in most places we've seen range from $30-90/euros a month. Here's another interesting fact about crime here.....at least three of the places we saw had parking spaces in the underground parking garages for those buildings. People tend to use part of the parking space designated for their cars to also store things like bikes, furniture, household goods, etc. These items aren't locked up....they are just sitting in the parking space and no one touches any of it. Incredible.

Also last week, we were dining at one of our favorite restaurants which we first discovered back in March when we were here looking for an apartment to rent. Solange, the owner/chef has become a friend as well and wanted to introduce us to another couple, Lorriane and Gary, who were also dining there that evening . They are also expats and just happen to live near us in the Boa Vista neighborhood. Lorraine is a Brit and a retired chef. We all hit it off and exchanged numbers and are planning to meet up for dinner in the 'hood soon. Accompanying them was another couple who were visiting from LA, Karen and Dan. Dan is a musician and told us about a Fado group he'd met and performed with here in Porto. The next day Dan texted and invited us to meet up with them that evening at the Galeria de Paris, a little bar/restaurant in a very funky nightclub area downtown to listen to Fado music. Dan again accompanied the group on his guitar for most of the set. Fado is the traditional music of Portugal that I would liken to torch singers.....usually sad, longing kind of music that is really quite lovely.

I've been negligent in posting more photos on Instagram but will get busy now to show the beautiful Palacio de Bolsas, which was the original stock exchange in Portugal that we toured recently. My most recent photos all seem to be for the shipping company, showing them where they can park and measuring the distance to the front door...really.

Just as I was preparing to sign off we got two bits of news...the ship with our goods is due to arrive in Rotterdam on September 25th. Once it clears customs they will put it on a truck and deliver it though we still don't know exactly when. But at least things are getting closer. The other great news is that our offer has been accepted! We're working out the details now and will likely close at the end of January and move in later in February, which works well for us. The current owner is a writer and painter from the Netherlands who is returning to his homeland. Very exciting!

Adeus, abraços e beijos,

MaryLou

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #3: Bats Eat Moths

Universidade de Coimbra

Weird title, I know, however we learned an interesting fact when touring the historic library at Universidade de Coimbra a few days ago. This university was founded in 1290 in Lisbon and was moved to Coimbra in the 1500's, when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal. It's one of the oldest universities in the world and is highly ranked. They have a medical school, law school, arts, science and technology. Our immigration attorney is a graduate of the law school. Many famous Portuguese writers and poets are among the graduates. The library houses over 60,000 books dating from the 1400's to the 1800's, so no John Grisham or JK Rawlings books here, though this library was also an inspiration for the Harry Potter series (as was the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto). Sadly, no one is allowed to take photos inside the library, which is quite spectacular. So, back to my title... In order to preserve these ancient books from moths, which eat paper, the library keeps bats up in the rafters. Every night the bats come out of hiding and eat all the moths. To protect all the beautiful tables/furnishings inside, they are covered each night with leather drapes to protect everything from the bat droppings. Organic pest control.

Must be willing to climb and descend
numerous stairs and ramps on this
excursion

Coimbra is a lovely town and home to some 30,000 students of the university. To get to the university from the center of town (the historic district), you must climb many stairs and traverse back and forth up some very steep inclines before reaching the school. Or, you can take some other transportation to drive there if climbing all those steps is just too much (we took a Tuk ride up there and walked back down). Views from the top are spectacular. In addition to touring the library we also toured the school of Chemistry, which houses many artifacts, which they call "curiosities." And touring the university is not free....there is a price of entry to go into these buildings because the university is a tourist attraction itself. We stayed at a nice hotel in the historic district and had a wonderful dinner the first night at Sete, a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff. I posted a photo of our dinner on Instagram....lamb shanks on a bed of pureed chestnut....14 Euros each. Fabulous. By the way, no matter where you eat in Portugal, no one will leave your check on the table to suggest that you pay up and leave. Turning tables is not a thing in Portugal like in the U.S. Eating is to be enjoyed and no one is in a hurry to get you out the door. You must ask for the check and only then will it be brought to you.

Tourist loaded gondolas move
along the canals

Prior to arriving in Coimbra, we visited Aveiro, the "Venice of Portugal." Canals weave through part of the town and there are many opportunities to take a gondola ride, which of course we did. Photos are on Instagram. Aveiro is also home to all the famous striped houses along the beach, however, you will not see them by taking a gondola ride. And you cannot walk to the beach to see them....it is way too far and difficult to get there on foot. We instead took the local bus to get to the shore, which took less than 20 minutes. It's quite a quaint area and the houses are adorable. The central historic district of Aveiro is quite charming and worth a visit. The "love bridges" can be found along the river downtown and are very colorful. Couples write their names on a ribbon and tie it to the railings to profess their love. Similar but more colorful than the padlocks that couples attach to railings in Lisbon to proclaim their love. In keeping with the colorful ribbons, there is a shopping mall downtown that has colored ribbons tied to netting that covers the main walkways....this is honestly quite a colorful town. And again, we traveled by bus to get from Porto to these towns....inexpensive and easy and all are direct routes.

Some of the famous striped houses
along the Aveiro shore

Every day is not a holiday for us, just so you know. Late last week we became tax paying citizens, which is a process like everything else, though not as complicated as some things. As I mentioned in a previous email, we have some household goods that are being shipped to us...though we still don't know exactly when. Prior to leaving AZ we had an international moving company come to pack up a number of our things...no furniture, but lots of dishes, crystal, pots and pans, my Mac, etc. Mostly things that are meaningful to us. We are allowed to have items shipped within the first year of living here, duty free, as long as they have been in our possession for a minimum of 6 months. Last week, while signing more forms so that our goods can be placed on a ship, we also learned that we must become tax paying citizens before our goods arrive in order to avoid paying duty. And, for any of you who might be contemplating a move overseas, shipping goods is no small undertaking. It requires a detailed list of every item and its value. They prefer to see receipts for everything, but who has that? Fortunately I did have receipts for my computer and some other valuable items but certainly not for most items, many of which have been in our possession since the 80's. That list must be sent to the Consulate in triplicate for review and approval, at which time they provide a Baggage Certificate which must be turned over to the shipping company before your goods can be shipped.

And one more thing on the topic of shipping goods overseas, while sitting in the hotel bar in Aveiro last week I couldn't help but overhear a conversation between two couples from the U.S....one couple has already moved to Portugal and the other couple is in the process of exploring areas and trying to decide whether to buy or rent initially. They were discussing shipping goods and I was rather astonished to hear that the one couple spent $120,000 to ship their goods to Portugal! And they didn't ship a car because they are doing the same things we're doing and relying on public transportation. I can't even wrap my head around that figure. The other couple is planning to ship their boat here. In contrast, our shipment came in around $7,000.

Yesterday we had a meeting with our new accountant so we could get a better sense of the tax process here. We are filing to become Non Habitual Residents (the title makes no sense but who am I to quibble with the IRS here). Portugal and the U.S. have an agreement that prevents anyone from being double-taxed, so if you are contemplating a move somewhere overseas, be sure to check for that. We have to apply for the NHR within our first year, which will allow us to keep our taxes low for the first 10 years of residency. Yes, you have to pay taxes wherever you move while still paying taxes in the U.S.

A few more curiosities to share: Last week while taking a bus downtown we passed by a huge crowd of people in the street. We felt like we were missing some great event until we realized that they were all waiting to get into Livraria Lello, the famous bookstore. It is August and all of Europe is on vacation...the crowds have been big everywhere. If you ever plan to visit Porto and want to see the bookstore I highly recommend that you go to their website and buy a ticket (crazy, I know) so you can avoid waiting in lines, because there is always a line outside. You get the money back as a discount if you buy anything.

Livraria Lello: Another day of crowds

Hot water heaters are most often found in the kitchen, though sometimes in the separate laundry area off the kitchen, should one exist. They are much smaller than what you would find in the U.S. and are typically not hidden from view. Washing machines are most often found in the kitchen. Garbage disposals don't exist here. At least one bathroom, should you have more than one, will have a bidet.

That's all the news from here. Hope you are all in good health and enjoying the summer.

Adeus, abraços e beijos,

MaryLou

If you missed either of my earlier Portugal update emails just let me know and I will send those to you. I keep finding email addresses missing in my contacts list. Also, if you know of someone who would like to be added to my distribution list, just let me know and I will add them. Again, I always send these out BCC so you won't be inundated with responses from others.

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A colorful display of fish demanding
 entrance at the window,
of course

Love ribbons on a bridge railing

Enjoying our gondola ride

Shopping mall courtyard capturing ribbon theme

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #2: Our One-month Porto Anniversary

Much has happened since my first update upon moving to Porto. On Friday we will celebrate one month here. We are more settled in our apartment, learning to use local transportation (i.e. city buses and metro) and getting in our fare share of walking. My fitbit tells me we're averaging over 13,000 steps a day and last week we walked over 38 miles!

Many have asked if we were sweltering in the heatwave and/or near the fires that broke out here recently. Shortly after my first update a few weeks ago, we had three very hot days here. Porto normally has temperatures in the 70's and maybe low 80's in July however we had three days in the high 90's here, and to make matters worse, at the same time we were blanketed with smoke from the fires in the Algarve. Our skies were gray, the smoke was dreadful and we had all our fans on full blast, but had to keep the windows closed. We were not happy campers those three days. Since then the weather has been fabulous and the air has been clear.

Our new dryer arrived but a day late. Try calling to check on the delivery of anything here and you will get recorded messages in Portuguese of course, and though we are trying to learn the language, it's hard to decipher the messages so we had no idea whether or not it would be delivered as promised. Our landlord Nuno checked in with me to inquire whether it had been delivered and I explained our dilemma. After texting him a copy of the invoice he called on our behalf and later that evening he dropped by to let us know that it would be delivered the next day. Once it was delivered he again checked to see if it was installed correctly. He's been nothing but helpful to us and, by the way, he was very apologetic about the hot weather.

Our journey to becoming Portuguese residents (we're only halfway there, having been approved by the Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco but still awaiting our appointment with Immigration here) is at times baffling. More on that when we get clarification from our attorney next week. In the meantime we have a shipment of our household goods awaiting approval to ship. That entails quite a bit of time and work before our goods can even be placed on a ship. Two weeks ago we learned that we each needed an Atestado de Residencia, which must be obtained from our local Parish. Upon arriving at the Parish office a few blocks from here we attempted to communicate with the woman working there who speaks no English (and our Portuguese is very basic). Once she understood what forms we needed she attempted to explain what was required and thankfully she had a cheat sheet in English for us to read. It requires two local witnesses who live in this same Parish to sign our forms and allow us to take photos of their Citizen cards. Since we don't know anyone in this Parish our attorney suggested that we just go into local cafes and ask if people would sign our forms....not comfortable doing that! Nuno again came to the rescue. He has a cousin who lives very close to us so we left our forms in her mailbox. She and a friend each witnessed our forms and gave us copies of their cards. A few days later we returned to the Parish office and the same woman was working. The moment she saw me she smiled, pulled out a stack of papers and started going through them while saying "MaryLou, MaryLou, MaryLou" (imagine that with an accent) until she found our forms. One more thing accomplished!

My MacBook laptop was driving me nuts, constantly throwing me off our network. I took it to a repair shop nearby and Domingos found nothing wrong with my laptop and had never heard of this problem before. Then I posted a note on a private expat Porto group on FB to see if anyone could help. I can't begin to describe the number of people who tried to help me, sending me all kinds of tricks to try. Nothing worked. Then I heard from Domingos again... he had another person come into his shop right after me who had the exact same issue. So Domingos kept in touch with me on WhatsApp as he tried to help us both (and he charged us nothing). Days later Domingos contacted me to let me know that the other customer had found the fix and he wanted to share it with me. He walked me through logging into our router (who knew you could do that) and changing one setting on it that apparently MacBooks don't like. Problem solved. And he checked back with me a few days later to make sure it was still working.

Azulejos tiles at Sao Bento
train station in Porto 

One day recently we ordered an Uber to take us to the downtown train station, Sao Bento (I posted some pictures of it on Instagram...you must see it). On the way there we were chatting with our driver and told him that we had recently moved here. He was so excited for us that he made a detour and took us to a spot overlooking the river that he said most residents don't even know exists. After getting out to take in the view he then took us to our destination. Who does that?

As we've been settling in to our new life in a new country we have been learning how to handle the mundane things like going to the post office to buy a large envelope and mail something and get tracking, finding a dentist who speaks English because I broke a crown, and getting packages delivered (can be quite maddening if it's one particular shipper). I was fortunate to find a good dentist nearby and had my initial consultation, got a temporary crown and will go back next week for my final. The post office clerk was so helpful and even gave me an envelope instead of having to buy a package of them. It's these little things, the meeting of people who want to help you, that make us love this place.

Over the weekend we took a bus trip to Braga, a 2,000+ year old town about an hour northeast of us. We caught an express bus (think

Braga's beautiful pedestrian
main street

Greyhound only nicer) that got us there in an hour and cost us $12/each roundtrip. In Braga we stayed at a lovely little hotel in the downtown historic district and had a wonderful time walking the area and enjoying great meals. As we were walking along one of the little side streets on Sunday we heard music and came upon some musicians playing traditional Portuguese music and all these people just dancing in the street. I posted a video on Instagram. Then yesterday we took a city bus in Braga up to Bom Jesus, a major tourist attraction/church that sits upon a hill overlooking the city. It was built in the 1700's and is quite spectacular. Initially we took a little trolley that takes you all the way to the top of the hill where the church is located. The views were amazing. However, there are also stairs you can take to get to the top....if you are in great shape. Once we took the trolley back to the bottom I decided that I at least wanted to climb the stairs to the initial landing where all the white stairs can be seen. Pictures explain this more than my trying to describe it....again see my Instagram postings. All I can say is that I climbed 330 stairs just to get to the initial landing where the white stairs begin. I wasn't about to try climbing the additional 577 white stairs. We returned to Porto last night and slept well from exhaustion.

And one more interesting tidbit.....it appears that rental properties here provide a mop and bucket....seriously. I see them in many photos of apartment listings and we have one in our apartment....in fact ours came with bottles of cleaners for tile and wood floors. Cute.

That's all for now! I hope that you are all staying cool.

 

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More of beautiful Sao Bento station

Monument to the requests for help and help given

The Raio Palace built in 1754

Bom Jesus, high on the hill overlooking
Braga

View from the top at Bom Jesus

I climbed 330 stairs just to get to this point!  
There are another 577 stairs from here, 
which I didn't attempt.

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #1: Our First 10 Days

We arrived on June 29 and took an UberXL to our new apartment. Our driver was great and managed to get our 4 very large suitcases, one large duffel bag, 2 carry-on suitcases, 2 backpacks, as well as our briefcases....and he still made room for us! We flew into the Porto airport. I highly recommend that if you are traveling to Portugal anytime in the next year, consider flying into Porto instead of Lisbon because the larger airport in Lisbon is having massive problems with flight cancellations, staffing issues, etc. I've read that the airport there needs a major expansion as well. Surprisingly, we pretty much breezed through customs in Porto....we had nothing to declare, however the sheer volume of our bags meant we were pulled aside to explain ourselves. After explaining that we just got our residency visas, they only asked if we had any electronics with us so we had to pull out our laptops and cell phones and verify that we have owned them for a minimum of 6 months.

It probably took us a week to adjust to the time change and get over our total exhaustion in managing the packing, etc. We are fortunate to have 4 grocery stores within walking distance so we were able to get some initial needs met. When we first secured this apartment lease back in March, we were able to buy some basic dishes, glassware, sheets, towels and the like that we knew we would need initially. Prior to moving we sold off a ton of our things so we've been shopping a lot this last week, trying to fill in the gaps. Our intent is to never own a car again and just rent one as needed, so for 3 days earlier last week, we had a rental car and made many trips to Ikea, an electronics store and a Target-like store. We finally feel like we are getting settled into our home. Next Tuesday our new dryer will arrive and be hooked up. While I don't mind hanging our clothes to dry (on inside racks, not out the windows 😃), towels need the fluffing of a dryer. And clothes dryers here are totally different....no one owns the American style dryers that vent to the outside. After much investigation we ordered a Bosch heat pump dryer. It takes longer to dry but it won't heat up the apartment like a condenser style dryer and it isn't as noisy (I'm told) as the latter. The apartment already has a new washing machine and a new dishwasher.

View of sunrise
from our living room

Our apartment is a two bedroom/two bath in a high-rise apartment building, however the shower in the guest bathroom isn't operable at the moment. The landlord was installing the new shower surround a few days before we arrived and one of the glass panels fell and smashed so he's waiting for the new part to arrive.

We were able to get our internet and tv set up within the first two days (Vodafone) and it seems to be fine, though I will say that our selections on Netflix and Amazon are very limited due to licensing agreements I'm told. We do have Apple TV and that works well. Local stations are very limited. We both got SIM cards for our iphones with new Portuguese phone numbers that we use here. Whenever we head back to the states for a visit we will just switch out our sim cards. If you want to text with me, you can find me under my name on WhatsApp but you cannot text me on my American phone number anymore. WhatsApp is free BTW and it's how everyone in Europe texts and calls.

Friday was our first actual day of sightseeing here in Porto and it was an amazing day! Temps were in the 80's. We decided to start our day at the Sao Bento train station because it's supposed to be a place to see and it's walking distance to the Douro river waterfront. The train station has beautiful azulejo tiles depicting various historical events in the country. It was busy with tourists yesterday, taking pictures and/or on tours. Then we headed to the riverfront and wandered around, had lunch and then took a boat ride on the Douro to see the six bridges that connect Porto to Vila Nova do Gaia. And since we could walk across the bridge to the Gaia side...we tasted some Port wine and bought a few bottles for our home. Gaia is where all ports are made, aged and bottled, though the grapes are grown in the Douro

The Douro River in downtown Porto

valley.

Next week we are planning to meet up with our friends Ed and Rhonda, who own a home in Portugal two hours south of us and with whom we stayed for a week back in March. They are bringing another couple with them to visit Porto for a few days at the end of next week and have a favorite spot they like to rent right along the waterfront. We look forward to seeing them again.

Here are my observations thus far....we LOVE Porto and while we like our apartment, we will probably be looking for something bigger eventually. Before we make any decisions however, there are still more towns we really want to check out that we didn't have time to see on our trip earlier this year. People in Porto are amazingly friendly and welcoming. We're living in Europe now and things are different....grocery stores are smaller, people don't buy things in bulk like they do in the states. Paper towels usually come in packs of two; toilet paper rolls are smaller; milk only comes in a size similar to a quart, refrigerators are smaller so you may need to shop more often. They don't tend to have as many electrical outlets in homes so we had to buy a number of outlet extenders to accommodate our needs. We have yet to see a single bug in our apartment and our windows are usually open all day and night....and windows don't have screens on them. All of our windows can be opened either swinging out or tilted open at the top...something I've not seen before. I've seen flies down at the waterfront but so far not a single fly or spider in our apartment. The Portuguese language is very difficult to learn but we are both committed to learning it. Right now we are still studying via Duolingo but we will eventually find a class, hopefully a total immersion class, to get us up to speed.

Our next appointment to complete our residency request is scheduled with the SEF (Portuguese immigration) on October 20 in Coimbra, the university town about an hour+ south of us. We are scheduled to meet with our attorney next week to go over the specifics of that appointment. Bureaucracy is alive and well in Portugal and there are still a number of things we need to accomplish to be ready for the final meeting.

So far we have no regrets and are not suffering from homesickness. We're staying in touch with our kids/grandkids via WhatsApp, which is a free app for texting and video chatting. We look forward to having visitors!

I will be posting many photos on Instagram so if you want to follow me there, please do. It's difficult to attach many photos to emails so I may have to send a follow-up email containing some photos. If you do not wish to receive lengthy emails like this from me I will not be hurt. Just send me a note to take you off future mailings...really, no hard feelings.

Adeus, abraços e beijos

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June 28, ready for take off from SFO

View of Porto from the Dom Luis I Bridge

Porto at night taken from Gaia

Notes from A Chair

Last Leg in U.S.

In November 2021 we decided to relocate to Portugal. We listed our Arizona home with an agent and closed escrow in May. We determined that an exploratory stay in Portugal of two months would enable us to find a suitable location to lease an apartment for a term of twelve months as the residency visa application requires. In March while in Porto, we selected an appartment in a high-rise close to grocery and other shopping. We'll rely on public transportation, Uber, and occasionally we'll rent a car. Yes, we are all done with car ownership, and good riddance we say.

We returned to the U.S. at the end of April to begin the process of obtaining our D7 residency visa through the Portugese consulate in San Franciso. Our latest communication indicates that we should have final approval by the end of June. We are already booked on a flight back to Porto. This is so happening, y'all.

We Swoon Over Our Grandchildren

While awaiting the visa approval here in the U.S., we took advantage of this holding period to fuss over, embrace, and enjoy our offspring and grandkids. Oh, my they all do bring us such joy, right up to the onset of fatigue, at which point we retreat for recuperation and happily anticipate the next day's opportunity to again fuss over, embrace, and enjoy.

We have eight grandchildren: two in the California contingent and six in the Florida contingent. Each is a masterpiece. Scholars, athletes, a scientist, a nurse, a retail entrepreneur, and babies still willing to sit on our laps, compel us to play make-believe with them, and occasionally demand a hug.

The photo to the left captures the youngest granddaughters of the Florida contingent and the abundant pleasure they bring us.

And So, for Now We Travel

To some, driven by compulsion to earn, acquire, achieve, compete; the stress of life can be overwhelming. And to some, it can be exilirating, even life-sustaining. Saved from what for me were the hazards of stress, I escaped such destructive compulsions a few years ago with my forced and now fully embraced retirement. Check out the laid-back posture and attire as I peruse some inconsequential publication. Oh yes, I belong in this chair, heart rate and respiration at very comfortable levels, gathering thoughts for a post.

A friend we were visiting in South Carolina took this photo while we were waiting for our wives to finish their shopping/browsing/acquiring in a quaint, charming little store in the town of Bluffton near Hilton Head at the center of the low country of South Carolina overlooking the May River.

The SC Friends

He labelled this event and the image: "Notes from A Chair". Well bless his heart, that is exactly what all my musings/writings are--jes' notes from the chair, y'all. I'm going to incorporate that phrase into my blog posts now. Thanks for that, my old and dear friend.

Biltmore Estate

From the home of our friends near Hilton Head, SC, we travelled north to Ashville, NC to tour the Biltmore estate. George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius, purchased over 700 acres of land in the Blue Ridge Mountains on which he built his summer home. Employing thousands of laborers, artisans, and craftsmen, construction began in 1889 and completed in 1895. Vanderbilt's descendants retain ownership of this the largest private home in the U.S.

The chateau is impressive, of course, but the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the estate's gardens and conservatory are worth at least a full day of touring, and that won't be enough to experience all of the wonder of this place.. Pictured here is Mary Lou beneath the canopy of a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar.