The Ultimate Adventure; Where to Live in Portugal?

I’m sitting here in my California kitchen watching it rain through the window. I don’t normally start my blog from home, but this trip is a little different. Joe and I are embarking on the ultimate Dashing Bold Adventure. We’re moving to Portugal! This is the first step in that journey. We’re going to Portugal for three months. On Monday (the 4^th) we fly from San Francisco to Lisbon. We will land in Lisbon at 11:00 on Tuesday (the 5^th). We’ll be staying for a couple of days at our friend’s Airbnb again in Lisbon.

Our goal is to find a town to move to… a place to call home. We love all of Portugal, so this isn’t as hard of a decision as it sounds, but we want to narrow it down. We’ve realized that we would like to be in a medium sized ocean town (lots to choose from). So here’s the schedule:

Nazaré: From Lisbon I plan to get us on a bus to Nazaré (pronounced Nazaray). We’ll stay there for three weeks in the southern part of the town. This is a surfing town with an incredibly long history as first a fishing town, and then with the advent of surf boards, a surfer’s paradise. We’re looking forward to checking out its funky vibe.

São Martinho do Porto: Pronounced San Martin-yo, this is a pristine town with calm waters due to its perfect fan-shaped bay. The Portuguese call it Baby Beach. Because of this reputation, it’s a vacation spot for families and older couples.

Armação de Pêra: Pronounced Armasown, this is south in the Algarve. This is our middle-of-the-road town. It is level, with easy access to the beach and the housing is close to the beach. It appears that the population is basically middle aged. This is probably the most affluent of the four places we’re looking at.

Portimão: Pronounced Port-mown, this is the party town. Here is were everyone goes for their bachelor/ette parties. It’s a serious hotspot for Europeans and Brazilians. Because of the huge expat community, English is commonly spoken everywhere. The downside is the city is on giant bluffs, which translates to lots of stairs. Lots. But, the cost of rental condos with fancy pools is way cheaper.

We will finish in Lisbon for a few days. Stay tuned…