Hard to believe but today, June 29th, is our one year anniversary living in Porto. When I look back at the journey to get here as well as the journey to get settled I can say that without a doubt we are living the life we wanted to live. It was never about replicating our life in the states. We've always talked about living in Europe but we had careers and family to consider. For me it was finally realizing that my grandkids were teens and didn't need me like they did when they were younger...picking them up from pre-school, etc. Once we moved to Arizona I was really only seeing them twice a year anyway. Our adult kids have lives of their own and don't require much from us. Certainly Covid changed our lives immensely as I'm sure it did for all of you but it was another wake up call to get busy and do what we want to do before it's over. We are living our lives now in an apartment of about 900+ sq ft.; we have no car and don't care to ever own one again; we've mastered public transportation here; and we've made some great friends and they aren't all Americans. And now we're getting to do the traveling that we wanted to because it's so easy to do from here both time-wise and $$. In fact, as you are reading this, we are in Sicily! Ryanair started direct flights from Porto to Sicily this summer so we decided to take advantage of it. It's a 2.5 hour flight. And no, we're not staying in the same hotel that you saw in White Lotus ... that's over $1500/night. I'll be posting pictures on Instagram/FB.
If you saw any of my pictures on Instagram and/or FB this month you saw my daughter Erinn and my grandchildren Zoe and Owen. This was their first trip abroad and we tried to make it a fantastic one. They loved Porto and did all the touristy things here. We took a great city tour on a tuk tuk that taught us a lot about the history of the city as well. Lisbon, Belem, Cascais and Sintra were also on our whirlwind tour. We toured the Pena Palace in Sintra which was amazing. Hard to fathom that it was strictly a "summer home" for someone. If you visit Lisbon you really should swing by Belem to see the statue honoring the famous Portuguese navigators and taste the incredible Belem Natas which are supposed to be the very best. I even ate one and I'm gluten-free but this was worth it (and I didn't even have a reaction). Also, lesson learned in Lisbon ... don't book a hotel near all the action, i.e. for us it was near Pink Street. The electronic music (is it really considered music?) was loud, pulsing noise that lasted until 5 a.m. The hotel provided earplugs but those didn't help a bit.
Another lesson learned this month ... ALWAYS zip my purse. Now, I know that but I failed to do it when I picked up Erinn and the kids at the airport and we took the metro and bus back to our house. While standing on the metro a man came up to me and started asking questions about where the next stop was while pointing to the map up above the doors. I was trying to be helpful and pointing out where we were and what the next stop was and thought nothing more of it. Late that same evening when I finally logged into my email, lo and behold I had a number of emails from credit card companies asking if I really charged 1900 euros at one electronics shop, paid a TIP of 164 euros 7 times, and a few other numerous charges. As soon as I first discovered it was missing my daughter and grandkids all thought it was the guy on the metro train who was asking me questions. Fortunately the companies flagged the charges as suspicious and we won't be charged. My bigger concern then was that my new Portuguese Resident card was in there along with my AZ driver's license, my CA credit union debit card, my Portuguese bank debit card and my insurance cards. After making a trip to the police station to file a claim, we set out to try and get an appointment with the SEF (immigration services) to obtain a replacement card. No luck there. They aren't accepting appointments at this time and we were told that we need to check their FB page to find out when they open new appointments. A funny little side note about filing the report at the police station ... the officer wanted to see the photocopies of my Resident Card and DL, which I provided. When looking at my driver's license he commented that he saw I was an organ donor and thought that was very nice. I asked him if Portugal has the same program and he said "no, unfortunately we just have to wait until an accident happens" and kind of smiled.
Last Friday I was surprised to receive a phone call from the police ... They had my wallet and wanted me to come pick it up. We hurried over to the central station that handles all lost and found and got my wallet back, minus the credit cards (which were all cancelled and replaced in the meantime). Thankfully my Resident card, driver's license, medical cards, even my U.S. credit union debit card were still there. They didn't catch the person who stole it unfortunately. It was found at a nearby shopping center where many of the charges were attempted.
Friday was also the Sao Joao (pronounced sou...like sour without the r...joe wow) festival in Porto celebrating the birth of St. John the Baptist. This is the biggest festival of the year and in Portugal it's only held in Porto. This holiday goes back about 700 years and always takes place on the evening of June 23. The historic district and the riverfront area are packed with people but every neighborhood also celebrates it with smaller parties and fireworks. On the riverfront it's standing room only by nightfall and there is some heavy drinking taking place. Grilled sardines are traditional as is a pig roasting on a spit, of which we saw many. Beer vendors were lined up about 10 feet apart on both sides of the river. Restaurants charge more that night too. The really unusual part of this celebration is the plastic hammers. They were everywhere that night and people hit each other over the head with them. Now these are soft plastic (see photo below) and they squeak when you hit them. I would have taken more photos that night however I was getting hit in the head (and hitting others with my hammer) to bother. We met one couple from Germany that evening at dinner and they have been coming to this festival every year for the last 12 years. When we arrived at the airport on Sunday for our flight to Sicily we saw many people with hammers sticking out of their backpacks. Fireworks are set off from the Dom Luis Bridge at midnight, after which the crowd at the riverfront starts walking (staggering) to the Foz (over 4 miles) to continue the party. When I say crowd, I mean thousands of people packed together. I saw a photo taken last year that you can see in this article https://portoalities.com/en/everything-about-sao-joao-festival-in-porto/. We decided not to take part in that walk. The sky was filled with sky lanterns that are powered by fire ... really a beautiful sight. We were home before midnight and watched the fireworks from our balcony.
As I mentioned, we are now in Sicily. We landed in Trapani on Sunday and spent the first two nights there. Now we're in Palermo and on July 1st we will take the train to Taormina where White Lotus was filmed. Trapani is a cute harbor town. Palermo is the capital of Sicily and has some beautiful buildings, however the town is full of trash/litter. We've both been really amazed by how dirty it is here. So far the food has been very good.
Finally, another observation about living in Portugal. Strangers say "bom dia, boa tarde, or boa noite" (depending on the time of day) as they pass by us. Emails and phone calls always begin with a greeting and inquiry as to our well being and end with gratitude. Portuguese people are always very polite, which is another reason why we love living here.
