One Girl and a Big World

I still remember the feeling when I found out my family was moving to Portugal in the summer before I started 8th grade. To put it simply, I was not happy with the news at all. The move was emotionally hard, but looking back, living in Portugal had such unique advantages that if I could go back in time, I would tell my younger self that it would be worth it. Let’s dive right in and discuss the advantages!

1. Inexpensive ~ Portugal is one of the cheaper countries in Europe. There are many sub-advantages to this. First, our family was able to save money by living in Portugal even as we were travelling all over Europe. Cost-of-living (food/housing) were significantly less expensive than the US. Portugal is known for its lower cost-of-living. It has become a popular destination for UK/Irish retirees and I do not blame them! Second, sports were also significantly cheaper than in the US. My brother and I both played two sports at once in Portugal and the cost was less than what we paid for one sport in the US. I was able to swim in Portugal, but I also got to experiment and learned to play tennis with my mom and brother and learned trampoline gymnastics.
2. Castles ~ Now, for Europeans, this might not be as exciting, but for Americans, being able to see a real castle daily was incredibly cool. Our town, Tomar, held the Portuguese Knights Templar headquarters and it was perched on a hill that overlooked the town. Every day my family went into town, we would be able to look at this beautiful castle watching over the quiet Portuguese town. Besides our own castle, the area surrounding our town was full of Moorish/Templar castles and oftentimes, we would drive a little outside of town and make a day trip to go visit these castles.
3. Slower lifestyle ~ This characteristic of Portuguese culture is one a miss even today. Compared to the American way of life, living in Portugal was so much slower and intentional. It was ok if things did not get done today because there was always “amanhã” or “tomorrow.” Our life was much simpler and slower and it did bring much rest and peace.
4. Easy to visit ~ Since Portugal is a relatively small country, it is very easy to get around by car. Because my brother and I were homeschooled, if my mom wanted to go visit a town with special historical meaning, we would just go, spend a day, then go back home. Tomar was centrally placed, and as such, we were only an hour drive from the Spanish border, an hour drive from Lisbon (1 1/2 by train), and a three hour drive from Porto. Unlike the tourists, who typically only visit Lisbon, Porto, and the Douro Valley, my family was able to visit the hidden gems of Portugal like Monsanto, Coimbra (holds the oldest Uni in Portugal and one of the oldest in the world), Braga, Nazare, etc. There is so much more to Portugal than just Lisbon and Porto (no hate to either, both are beautiful).
5. Living in a Templar town ~ Now, this obviously applies to Tomar, but how cool is it to live in the town that housed Knights Templar?!? To this day, there are reminders of the knights that lived and worked there, churches that bear their symbols, a castle that demonstrates their power, and cobblestone streets that bear their cross. The castle of Tomar housed the famous Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the fathers of modern exploration. It is rare that one gets the feeling that they are walking through thousands of years of history, and yet my family got to experience that every day. On a side note, if you got curious reading this paragraph, there is a TV Series called “Buried: Knights Templar and the Holy Grail.” In one of the final episodes, the researchers go to Tomar and actually investigate the some of the buildings in Tomar that were for Templar use. It was really cool to see how some of the churches and gardens I walked past for 14 months were used by the Templars. It is definitely worth a watch.
6. Good travel base ~ Portugal was a great country to use as a travel base to other countries. Because we had a Portuguese visa, security in airports was much easier to go through (unless you fly to the UK/Ireland). Flights within the EU are also crazy inexpensive. Because my dad worked in Africa on a one month rotation, we would travel on two of the four weeks he was given off every other month. We only missed one travel month due to our expiring American passports. Additionally, our Israel/Jordan trip and our Kenya trip was so much easier because we did not have to cross the Atlantic ocean.
7. New Language ~ Since my family lived in a little town in central Portugal, the amount of English spoken there was significantly less than in Lisbon and Porto. Because of this, my brother and I picked up Portuguese rather quickly! My poor mother tried, but the French she learned in college just would not let her learn another Romance language. As for my dad, since he was gone half the year working in Africa, he picked up a couple words out of necessity like “propano” which is “propane” (so that we would have hot water), and “obrigado” which is “thank you.” For anything else, well, that’s why he had kids!

These are just some of the advantages to living in Portugal. It is a beautiful country with the kindest, warmest people on the planet. I await the day that I can return and walk through our old town again and think back on the days that my crazy family lived in a quiet little, Portuguese town.

Until Next Time!