Bacalhau to Bocadillos

I’m back – and with big news.

I originally started this blog back in 2020 to chronicle our move from the US to Portugal.

But it’s hard to keep the momentum going, and I didn’t have much that was exciting to talk about after we moved from Porto to Lisboa in 2021, so things have been pretty darned quiet.

So it is with great pleasure that I’ve returned to share some updates!

Now, I have come to love Portugal, and I’ll always be grateful to the country for allowing us to become citizens. I’m proud to be Portuguese, and I honestly think that the family spent time here back in the day. However, after five years, we’re at a bit of a crossroad, and we’re thinking maybe it’s time to change things up a little.

Part of this has to do with the over-saturation of Americans in Lisboa. The reality is that this place has been oversold in the media, which has driven up prices and caused a lot of the traditional flavor of the town to be lost. There are still lots of unspoiled places in Portugal, but unfortunately they don’t suit our needs for living spaces. Really, only Lisboa and Porto are large enough to give us the type of urban experience we want, and I’ve previously commented on the challenges of Porto.

We’re also at the end of our lease, and we know for a fact that the owner intends to jack up the price. He’s already tried to get us to agree to an illegally large rent bump, and frankly it’s just not worth a battle.

And, part of this is just our natural wanderlust kicking in … don’t forget, in the first 15 years Kristie and I were together, we lived in 14 different places!

Luckily, the situation is quite a bit different from 2020. For starters, we are EU citizens – and as such, are entitled to live anywhere we want within the EU. This opens up all sorts of possibilities.

We’ve been doing some traveling over the last few years, and I can tell you that there are places we love in Europe (no surprises there, right?). Vienna, Madrid, Palermo, Toulouse, Lyon, Brussels – all great, but all with certain challenges.

The short version – yes, absolutely.

We have revisited Valencia, and everything we loved about it in the past is still true. The city is beautiful, the people are fun, the food and wine are great. So, we’re moving!

I’ve been setting up the groundwork for the past few months, and things are going to start happening fast. I’ve got an agency that I’ve been working with that will be helping us with finding an apartment and taking care of the logistical and bureaucratic challenges, which will make things even easier. We are going to be in Valencia for two weeks in mid-May, finding an apartment and taking care of business, and my intention is to give you all a bird’s-eye view of the proceedings.

Stay tuned for more –