Where are we going to live?

Once Portugal became a real possibility, we had to make some decisions about where and how we wanted to live.

Now, if you’ve known us over the years, you know that we used to move around. In the first 15 years Kristie and I were together, we lived in 14 places, including intracity and intrastate relocations. This gave us a little bit of perspective and enabled us to establish some basic criteria that at least helped us narrow it down a little.

High on the list – we don’t want to live more than one hour away from an international airport. We figured this one out when we lived in Santa Rosa, California; two and a half hours to the airport is too far. This immediately narrows things down in Portugal to three areas – around Lisbon, Porto, and Faro in the Algarve (well, also the island of Madeira off the coast of Africa, but we ruled that out for now). Porto and Lisbon have direct flights to the US, Faro doesn’t.

Over the years, we’ve decided we’re both city people – we’ve tried rural, and the last 13 years in the ‘burbs have given us a strong desire for a more urban setting. A vibrant town center with walking access to things was a necessity.

An active cultural life is a requirement. We’re huge popular and classical music fans and we wanted a place that would give us access to both. We have a rule – any town that can’t support a symphony orchestra is probably too small to attract us. Having access to a theater for live stage shows is also a plus.

We also really like college towns. The areas around universities usually have cool shops, restaurants, bars, music venues, etc. And having lots of young people around generates some really desirable energy.

Another consideration: as much as we don’t like to talk about it, we’re getting older, so having reasonable access to medical services is only being smart. One thing we weren’t worried about in Portugal was food … and that will be a whole other story (or stories) for another day. Ditto for wine.

Something else to think about – we wanted access to mass transit, in particular light rail. Both Porto and Lisbon have very good Metro systems. Faro, not so much – buses only.

Given the list, we decided Faro wasn’t going to work. The Algarve, especially in the one-hour radius surrounding the airport, is very tourist-heavy – it’s a big destination for European holidaymakers. Prices are therefore a little higher, and the city of Faro is not terrifically exciting in and of itself.

So, Lisbon or Porto? They’re both great. They’re both rich in history, art, culture, and general atmosphere. They’re both waterfront towns – Lisbon on the Teju, Porto on the Douro and Atlantic estuary. We spent weeks in both cities, staying in apartments and trying to make up our minds, but at the end of the day we opted for Porto.

Why? It’s a good-sized city, but it’s smaller than Lisbon and less hectic. It’s about the size of Portland, where as Lisbon is more like San Francisco. That’s actually a really good comparison, both for size and general feel – and as much as we like visiting San Francisco, it’s a little intense for day-to-day living.

Porto is also a little cooler temperature wise than Lisbon – once again, very similar to Portland, although a bit warmer. It’s a four-season town, but it never freezes, which is fine with me.

There is a very lively music, theater, and art scene in Porto. The Casa da Música, Porto’s symphony hall, is an architectural and cultural landmark. In addition to the main concert hall, they have a bunch of smaller performance spaces there, with classical and pop shows happening all the time (for instance, Bob Dylan was there last year).

There are other music venues scattered around town, and the Teatro Nacional São João (open since 1798) is the place to go for plays, operas, and all kinds of musical performances (we were supposed to be there in April for a concert by Mayra Andrade, which we missed because of the epidemic).

There are also a number of colleges and universities in Porto, and the students are everywhere – many of them wearing their traditional and distinctive black suits and capes ( Did you know that JK Rowling wrote “Harry Potter” while living in Porto, and the Hogwarts uniforms are based on Portugal’s student garb?).

A popular thing for students to do is put together small musical groups and wander the streets or stand on corners busking – this is especially prevalent during Graduation Week.

One other important thing we had to take into account was the tourist situation. We can’t bash tourists – hell, we’ve BEEN tourists. But we’re not moving to spend time with foreigners, we want to integrate into Portuguese society.

In Lisbon, the tourist region spreads all the way from Cascais along the Teju, past Belém to the Praça do Comércio, up the Avenida da Liberdade, the castle, the Barrio Alto, and on and on.

In Porto, on the other hand, the tourist territory is more or less confined to a concentrated area around the Ribeira and the port houses just across the Douro in Vila Nova de Gaia. Get past Clérigos on the west or Bolhão market on the east, and the only non-Portuguese you see are riding past on the “Hop On” bus. Even the beautiful beaches at Foz and along the Atlantic coast are typically only enjoyed by the locals.

We did consider living in the smaller city of Braga. This is a lovely town, and close to Porto by train – it’s actually the end of the line for the Porto metro rail. Even better, there’s a regular shuttle bus to the Porto airport that only takes 45 minutes.

We also thought about living up the coast a little bit, in Vila do Conde or Póvoa de Varzim – beautiful ocean views, and slightly lower prices. However, neither one of those towns would have given us the urban setting we wanted.

At the end of the day we decided Porto made more sense. It gave us the best combination of all the things we were looking for, especially as our first stop in Portugal.

Next up: Real estate in the time of the plague.