If you are reading about how is life in Portugal these days, you will found out that everybody flocs to Portugal to retire, to relocate, to spend summer – basically everybody runs from their present lives to Portugal.
But what is it about this country that inspires hope for the future and joy for living again?
How are things in Portugal now?
In February 2021 Portugal was the country with the higher cases of Covid in Europe. We had a total lockdown, with a general duty to stay home 24/7.
Most of the people respected the rules and soon the results were visible for all to see: Portugal is until this day the country that started with the most cases of Covid and become rapidly the safest country in Europe.
What I like here in Portugal is that the majority of people, at least from what I saw and experienced agree with the lockdown and respect the rules. Yes, they were against the masks, especially outdoors but they agree with the general lockdown.
So different from other countries, for example my country where people were actively fighting the Government rules and the lockdown. If the Government issued one rule, in Romania people literally go out of their way to spite the Government and break that rule.
So different from the UK or US, where the first rule of thumb is to scream “discrimination” and “breaking of our liberties” and then look around you and observe the reality.
I encountered in Portugal something with what I resonate: do the sensible thing. Use your head, think of your neighbor.
Life in Portugal in 2022
The weather is wonderful as always, so people tend to forget about the realities of life. The realities being that the prices are sky high, from groceries to electricity to renting a car, everything exploded.
The prices of real-estate exploded as well, even in the areas where you would not expect that. As I always say, you will always find good bargains if you look long enough. But as a general rule, everybody added to their general asking price a round sum of 50.000 euro, for good measure.
And with good reason, don’t blame the locals. Expats from US for example, so eager to pay 2,3 times the actual value, because for them is still cheap. And why not, if this will buy them an instant access to a lifestyle they cannot even dream about back home. So don’t blame them either. They are not responsible for how things in the world works.
The thing is that real estate is becoming prohibitive in Portugal if things will continue this way. The inflation and the war is not helping either.
But after all is said and done…
I still feel like I arrived here yesterday. Between making the house livable, filming, accounting and keeping the firm afloat, I hardly had time to realize I now live in Portugal.
I thing this is the mirage or Portugal. Between the sunshine, the good food and the generally happy feeling, you forget your troubles and feel like you live in a perpetual vacation. Who would not want to live here, in this perpetual state of wonder?
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