James Cave
No matter how much you try to deny it, there are always things that you miss from home. It could be strong tea bags (British), Vegemite (Australians), Tayto crisps (Irish), sausages (Germans), or BBQ (Americans). Although you can find some of these things in the Portuguese supermarkets, particularly the larger supermarkets, you probably won’t be … Read more
So, you’re thinking about moving to Portugal from the UK. Great choice! Portugal is an incredibly welcoming country with fantastic weather, a laid-back lifestyle, and a much lower cost of living than most of the UK. Brits are the biggest expat group in Portugal, and have been for many years. The majority live in and … Read more
There’s an app for just about everything, and many of them are helpful for learning Portuguese. Can you learn a language with an app? It’s probably not possible to learn a language just using these apps, but they’ll definitely help you improve in different ways. Each app has its own purpose, whether it’s learning vocab … Read more
If you have a Portuguese parent (or even grandparent), you’re in luck: you may be eligible for Portuguese citizenship. In comparison to other routes to citizenship, the process is fairly straight-forward. Getting a parent’s or grandparent’s birth certificate is usually quite easy, and there’s no language requirement or requirement to live in Portugal for a … Read more
Lisbon tour guide Elena Bicu moved from Romania to Lisbon for her Erasmus but loved it so much that she decided to make Lisbon her permanent home. In this interview we look at how she almost didn’t end up in Lisbon, what it was like being a student there, and what her post-student life is … Read more
During the inquisition period, Jews were persecuted in Spain and Portugal. The choice was either convert, try living as a Jew in secret as many did in places like Belmonte, or leave the Iberian Peninsula altogether. Obviously, this is a blight on Portugal’s past and one that, since 2015, Portugal is trying to atone for … Read more
The Algarve is often cited as one of the best places in the world to live, particularly for retirees. It has fantastic weather (more than 300 days of sunshine), some of the best beaches in the world, and a thriving expat scene. But, like everywhere else in the world, for every pro of living in … Read more
With more than 300 days of sunshine and it’s relatively low cost of living, the Algarve is one of the most popular expat destinations in Europe. The Algarve is roughly 155 km in width, and the region stretches from the Atlantic on the West Coast to the Spanish-Portuguese border in the East. Within the Algarve, … Read more
Portimão isn’t as easy on the eye as Ferragudo, a small coastal town that’s located on the opposite side of the Arade estuary. While Ferragudo is made up of small white-washed little houses, some of them former fisherman’s cottages, Portimão’s landscape is dominated by large apartment blocks. It’s also 2 km from the nearest beach, … Read more
As Algarve towns go, Silves is one of the most beautiful and most interesting. It’s home to Silves Castle (Castelo de Silves), one of the most popular historical attractions on the Algarve, as well as a few other smaller attractions like Silves Cathedral (Sé de Silves) and the Old Roman Bridge (Ponte Romana De Silves) … Read more