I have lived in SE Algarve for 2 years. One thing you didn't mention (because this takes a bit of time) is that US foods are heavily ultra-processed. The US chain restaurants can all taste the same because the food is the result of industrial processes....here in Portugal it is fresh. It is one of the reasons that average life expectancy in Portugal is 5 years longer than the US despite it being less wealthy.
Unfortunately, you forgot to mention both the extremely high salt and sugar intake of the Portuguese diet. Americans coming to Portugal have to watch the salt and sugar intake otherwise; they’ll quickly develop health problems. I personally have known several people (Portuguese Americans) who lived in Portugal only to die from heart attacks or strokes. FOR EXAMPLE: just read the amount of salt listed on the ingredient label (listed as NA) of a bottle of “Pedras” brand of water and you’ll quickly see what I mean.
Great video! I think you’re both easy going and that makes life so much easier!!! Really like your channel. Traveling to Portugal Nov - Dec this year (2024). Glad all is going well!!
Thanks for watching @terrellmiller7361 and there is some great golf just to the east of Óbidos, so not far from where we live. Other than that, you’d need to go closer to Sintra/Lisbon/Cascais for more golf courses. Faro, in the Algarve, also has several great courses.
Thanks for watching @reginacid6830 and you are right. Coming from the U.S. where malls struggle to get shoppers now, malls in Portugal are very popular and they do have chain stores.
Truly glad you guys are living and enjoying my birth country while i live in the States. Thanks for refreshing my memory about all of those places. It is a lifestyle….slow and slower…
Greetings and thanks for the video! Several times you mention hopping in the car and driving somewhere. What is the public transport like in your area, both local and getting out to Lisbon or Porto? Thanks Toby
Thanks for watching Toby. It’s very easy to catch local buses and buses to nearby cities. There are also buses that run frequently to Porto or Lisbon. There is a train as well but from here it takes longer and costs more to get to Lisbon so a bus is the better answer. So it is certainly possible to do Nazaré without a car with some planning.
It's interesting that you consider the weather as a pro, the Portuguese tend to see the silver coast as cold, windy and rainy. Also, the Silver Coast is a foreigners' concept, the Portuguese don't really use that definition. There is something that we call "Região Oeste" which corresponds roughly to the lower half of the Silver Coast (Mafra, Torres Vedras, Caldas da Rainha, Leiria), and that's the part that we consider to be cold, windy and rainy. The whole area is chock-a-block with wind turbines, so it is windy for sure.
Thanks @UbuTube and the weather, for us, is a pro. We lived for a long time in San Francisco and Oakland, and the weather in Nazaré is very similar (including the wind). Thanks for the “Região Oeste” and we’ll add that to our vocabulary!
lol, Portuguese here and I do not think it is cold or rainy. Windy, I concede that, although a friend of Netherlands strongly disagrees with that, saying Portugal is not windy... Are you from Lisbon, Alentejo or Algarve? I live north of Leiria (should be worse, right?) and it's fine. Actually, this year, I've had a better day of beach in Figueira and Mira than in Algarve. You just have to keep a keen eye on the tide schedule to get that awesome 2-hour window low tide. Oh, and by the way, I remember having great days of beach at Vila praia de Âncora few years ago :). Some people consider the water too cold, but you get used to it fast..
Thanks for watching @PeeGeeThirteen and it is much cooler on the Silver Coast. For example, today the high in Faro was 89 Fahrenheit (32 C), 85 in Lisbon (29 C) and 71 (22 C) in Nazaré. I know some people like it hot but we love the weather on the Silver Coast.
There´s not many golf courses around you because Costa de Prata its usualy very windy, there is one though at "Praia D´el Rei", between praia do Baleal e Foz do Arelho.
Thanks for watching @mariomarques4247 and I’ve played Praia D’el Rei as well as West Cliffs. There are two (maybe three) others right in the same area. Maybe wind has something to do with it, but it seems to me some of the most expensive golf courses to play in the world are on coasts that get a lot of wind (Pebble Beach, St Andrews, Bandon Dunes). I’d love just one or two more courses between Praia D’el Rei and Aviero :)
@@TheUnretirees There used to be one around my place in Rio Maior, called Golden Eagle, but it went bankrupt maybe 10 years ago, and I don;t know if it reopened or not, they also used to have a web site
Prices: "the Silver Coast still remains relatively affordable". Is that an euphemism? The Silver Coast is dirt cheap! Go check prices in Lourinhã, Bombarral, etc. Or even near the beach in one of the many non-touristy villages facing the ocean.
Glad you guys are enjoying your time there! We are looking for places right now, so I really appreciate these helpful videos. I was wondering if you have any experience with using Amazon etc for getting things delivered? Is that a thing there?
Thanks for watching @christineawoolley334 and Amazon is a little different. There isn’t an Amazon Portugal but we order from Amazon Spain (Amazon.es). It takes an extra day or so, and at least where we live the delivery is never left at the door. So we normally have orders sent to a “lockbox” next to the post office and pick them up there. A little hassle, but not a big one. Good luck on your research!
Will an Amazon Prime subscription from the US work in Portugal? Also: PayPal, Google Store etc? What about electronics...smartphones and laptops, will US models work (obv with power adapters)? Thanks! 😊
@@terrellmiller7361 Thanks for watching! PayPal works, though it is a different PayPal subsite - so you need to go through and set up a new PayPal in Portugal; Google Store, Apple Store, etc. all work just fine. Amazon Prime not so much. First, it seemed to us that we needed to set up a new Prime account on Amazon.es (Spain's Amazon, since Portugal doesn't have one), and then when you ship from Amazon.es, it's not the same delivery time -- maybe one day more, but then packages are never left at the door. We send it to a locker (sort of like Amazon Locker, but called Locky) and then we get notified when it's delivered there. Most electronics work fine (computers, phones, etc.) using adaptors, but some small items (hair dryer, curling iron, etc.) don't work and need to be purchased here. Hope that helps1
I have lived in SE Algarve for 2 years. One thing you didn't mention (because this takes a bit of time) is that US foods are heavily ultra-processed. The US chain restaurants can all taste the same because the food is the result of industrial processes....here in Portugal it is fresh. It is one of the reasons that average life expectancy in Portugal is 5 years longer than the US despite it being less wealthy.
Thanks for that information @josefgillan6616
Unfortunately, you forgot to mention both the extremely high salt and sugar intake of the Portuguese diet. Americans coming to Portugal have to watch the salt and sugar intake otherwise; they’ll quickly develop health problems. I personally have known several people (Portuguese Americans) who lived in Portugal only to die from heart attacks or strokes. FOR EXAMPLE: just read the amount of salt listed on the ingredient label (listed as NA) of a bottle of “Pedras” brand of water and you’ll quickly see what I mean.
LOVE your honesty. I'm still in my researching stage for retirement locations in Portugal. I appreciate the information on the Silver Coast.
Thanks @katdodd5801! We love the Silver Coast but there are many great places in Portugal-it all depends on what you’re looking for! Best of luck!
Great video! I think you’re both easy going and that makes life so much easier!!! Really like your channel. Traveling to Portugal Nov - Dec this year (2024). Glad all is going well!!
Thanks for watching @laura_and_shanman and I hope your trip goes well and you see lots of sun!
I spent a winter in the Peniche area and it did not rain that much. This past winter was unusual.
Thanks for watching @JenShea and we’re counting on it :)
Great advice! What are the golf courses like, and are there areas on the Silver Coast that have more of them?
Thanks for watching @terrellmiller7361 and there is some great golf just to the east of Óbidos, so not far from where we live. Other than that, you’d need to go closer to Sintra/Lisbon/Cascais for more golf courses. Faro, in the Algarve, also has several great courses.
There aremany chain shops in most big malls in Portugal. Porto, Braga, Aveiro have Sephora shops.
Thanks for watching @reginacid6830 and you are right. Coming from the U.S. where malls struggle to get shoppers now, malls in Portugal are very popular and they do have chain stores.
Truly glad you guys are living and enjoying my birth country while i live in the States.
Thanks for refreshing my memory about all of those places.
It is a lifestyle….slow and slower…
Glad we can remind you of the great things in Portugal @ciprianoneves7246 !
Greetings and thanks for the video!
Several times you mention hopping in the car and driving somewhere. What is the public transport like in your area, both local and getting out to Lisbon or Porto?
Thanks Toby
Thanks for watching Toby. It’s very easy to catch local buses and buses to nearby cities. There are also buses that run frequently to Porto or Lisbon. There is a train as well but from here it takes longer and costs more to get to Lisbon so a bus is the better answer. So it is certainly possible to do Nazaré without a car with some planning.
It's interesting that you consider the weather as a pro, the Portuguese tend to see the silver coast as cold, windy and rainy. Also, the Silver Coast is a foreigners' concept, the Portuguese don't really use that definition. There is something that we call "Região Oeste" which corresponds roughly to the lower half of the Silver Coast (Mafra, Torres Vedras, Caldas da Rainha, Leiria), and that's the part that we consider to be cold, windy and rainy. The whole area is chock-a-block with wind turbines, so it is windy for sure.
Thanks @UbuTube and the weather, for us, is a pro. We lived for a long time in San Francisco and Oakland, and the weather in Nazaré is very similar (including the wind). Thanks for the “Região Oeste” and we’ll add that to our vocabulary!
lol, Portuguese here and I do not think it is cold or rainy. Windy, I concede that, although a friend of Netherlands strongly disagrees with that, saying Portugal is not windy... Are you from Lisbon, Alentejo or Algarve? I live north of Leiria (should be worse, right?) and it's fine. Actually, this year, I've had a better day of beach in Figueira and Mira than in Algarve. You just have to keep a keen eye on the tide schedule to get that awesome 2-hour window low tide. Oh, and by the way, I remember having great days of beach at Vila praia de Âncora few years ago :). Some people consider the water too cold, but you get used to it fast..
The silver coast is the equivalent climate of the coast north of San Francisco, that’s why it’s very humid..
Thanks for watching. We picked Nazaré because the climate was close to SF/Oakland.
I found the East Algarve to be too hot in October 2021 lol, perhaps the Silver Coast could be a cooler solution
Thanks for watching @PeeGeeThirteen and it is much cooler on the Silver Coast. For example, today the high in Faro was 89 Fahrenheit (32 C), 85 in Lisbon (29 C) and 71 (22 C) in Nazaré. I know some people like it hot but we love the weather on the Silver Coast.
There´s not many golf courses around you because Costa de Prata its usualy very windy, there is one though at "Praia D´el Rei", between praia do Baleal e Foz do Arelho.
Thanks for watching @mariomarques4247 and I’ve played Praia D’el Rei as well as West Cliffs. There are two (maybe three) others right in the same area. Maybe wind has something to do with it, but it seems to me some of the most expensive golf courses to play in the world are on coasts that get a lot of wind (Pebble Beach, St Andrews, Bandon Dunes). I’d love just one or two more courses between Praia D’el Rei and Aviero :)
@@TheUnretirees There used to be one around my place in Rio Maior, called Golden Eagle, but it went bankrupt maybe 10 years ago, and I don;t know if it reopened or not, they also used to have a web site
@@TheUnretirees goldeneagle and then PT
@@mariomarques4247 Thanks for watching! Looks like Golden Eagle is closed...but maybe just temporarily. It would be good to have another course.
Restaurant suggestions in Torres Vedras: Taberna 22 / Roots.
Thanks @UbuTube we’ll have it give it a try! Thanks for the recommendation!
Prices: "the Silver Coast still remains relatively affordable". Is that an euphemism? The Silver Coast is dirt cheap! Go check prices in Lourinhã, Bombarral, etc. Or even near the beach in one of the many non-touristy villages facing the ocean.
lol @UbuTube ! Well, it sure felt like real money when we bought our place :). Thanks for watching!
Glad you guys are enjoying your time there! We are looking for places right now, so I really appreciate these helpful videos. I was wondering if you have any experience with using Amazon etc for getting things delivered? Is that a thing there?
Thanks for watching @christineawoolley334 and Amazon is a little different. There isn’t an Amazon Portugal but we order from Amazon Spain (Amazon.es). It takes an extra day or so, and at least where we live the delivery is never left at the door. So we normally have orders sent to a “lockbox” next to the post office and pick them up there. A little hassle, but not a big one. Good luck on your research!
Will an Amazon Prime subscription from the US work in Portugal?
Also: PayPal, Google Store etc?
What about electronics...smartphones and laptops, will US models work (obv with power adapters)?
Thanks! 😊
@@terrellmiller7361 Thanks for watching! PayPal works, though it is a different PayPal subsite - so you need to go through and set up a new PayPal in Portugal; Google Store, Apple Store, etc. all work just fine. Amazon Prime not so much. First, it seemed to us that we needed to set up a new Prime account on Amazon.es (Spain's Amazon, since Portugal doesn't have one), and then when you ship from Amazon.es, it's not the same delivery time -- maybe one day more, but then packages are never left at the door. We send it to a locker (sort of like Amazon Locker, but called Locky) and then we get notified when it's delivered there. Most electronics work fine (computers, phones, etc.) using adaptors, but some small items (hair dryer, curling iron, etc.) don't work and need to be purchased here. Hope that helps1
Don’t forget this is an El Niño year. Wetter than most.
Thanks for watching @Carpe-Diem and, while we like the rain, it felt like too much to us!
It is not cold…..it is the humidity….it gets to you …laugh.
Been there and done that.
Laugh
Maybe that’s right @ciprianoneves7246 - whatever it is it feels pretty cold…even for us after we lived in the northeast US!