I came to Portugal because I met Rosaria, a Portuguese girl during my travels in China. I knew nothing about Portugal or its people, but I definitely knew that they didn’t like being compared to the Spanish. If anything, say “Thank you” if you don’t know Portuguese, never “Gracias” or hell will break loose.
My friend Rosaria lives in the countryside (an hour train ride from Porto) where every second family seems to have their own vineyard. Rosaria speaks perfect English, which she says is kind of uncommon in Portugal since no one really cares too much about it and the English teachers are often not that great. Every year they learn the verb “To be”. I wonder what we will be learning this year. To be? I never would have guessed. I asked her how she practices her English and she said through self-learning and travelling. How do the Europeans communicate with each other? English of course!
Rosaria’s parents don’t speak English but they were lovely and always generous. I always seemed to be spooned the bigger portion and wine was a staple of every lunch and dinner. They invited me to their Sunday night family dinner – apparently the whole family (uncles, aunts and cousins) wanted to meet the Australian friend of Asian descent. When I arrived, one of the aunties said, “Hey that’s the girl I saw in the train station two days ago. She looked very lost.” Yup, spot the tourist. As I ate my dinner, Rosaria’s grandfather stood at the head of the table and made sure my glass of port was never empty. He had one of those moustaches that you diligently twist at the edges everyday – Poirot would be pleased! By the time I consumed more port wine than soup, I could barely stand up to go to the local cafe – which everyone thought was ridiculously funny. They drank espresso and I watched football on telly.
I said goodbye (tchau) to Rosaria the next day and took a Flixbus to Lisbon. Since I went in the winter, Lisbon was filled with tourists looking to experience culture, instead of Germans or English looking to party ALL NIGHT LONGGGG (yes, there is even a dedicated party hostel called G-spot Hostel. It’s rated 5 stars). I met an English boy at my hostel called Alex who studies Ecological Economics and who is learning about permaculture through working on organic farms, and an English woman named Anna who speaks in a posh British accent. We set out in search of late night Fado music (expressive and profoundly melancholic music originally sung by women about their fisherman husbands out at sea and other woes). Alex insisted we use a paper map and, of course, we got lost.
Then we saw a Portuguese Bob Marley, complete with dreadlocks and reggae vibe. Alex asked him where we could find a cool jazz bar and Portuguese Bob Marley asked us to follow him. Hmmm…Not sure, we are two girls, but we have Alex and Alex says he has a good feeling about this. We ended up at this incredibly small bar with cool art on the walls and Bob Marley’s brother playing the guitar and making trumpet noises with nothing but his mouth. Brppp. Buh durt Brpppttt. Wow, this is it, I’ve found the soul of Portugal, real experience, real culture, not what they sell you on postcards. Next thing I knew, three Dutch tourists walk in. Damn, I thought this was an unknown cafe in the middle of nowhere. We walked back to our hostel and I kept thinking… Man I love Portugal.
Useful Portuguese Phrases:
- Ola, Bom Dia – Hello, Good Day
- Obrigada (f) / Obrigado (m) – Thank you
- Por favor – Please
- Desculpe – Sorry
- Super Bock or Sagres (you are either one or the other) #ifyouknowyouknow
Sylvestre Collective 