Our car is here! We were approved for the loan and one night the dealer let us know the car was ready for pick up. They had given us an insurance quote and we decided to go with the company they used since it would be easier. They gave us 3 quotes. I don’t remember the exact amounts but the most expensive was 750+ per year and the cheapest was around 300. We decided to go with the expensive one for our first year because it’s similar to full coverage insurance.

Buying a car in Portugal wasn’t any better or worse than in the US- both places require hours of waiting and lots of paperwork. I am really grateful that the dealership did a lot of the hard stuff for us. They got us the loan, registered the car, and got us insurance. We also have warranties and roadside assistance that works anywhere in the EU.

Unfortunately I had to work a ton the first few days we had the car and I didn’t get to use it much. Finally I have a day off today and we decided to head to Nazare. We went there once last year and have been meaning to go back. We let Sofia ditch a day of preschool so that she could come with us. It feels nice driving again! It was nerve wracking at first, but I’m adjusting. The roads here are great.

For now we’re having to avoid the toll roads since we don’t have our transponder yet. There is a company called Via Verde and they have an awesome app. You can create an account there and use it to pay for all kinds of car related things including parking and tolls. Once we get the transponder it will make driving easier since we can use the toll roads. We can probably use the roads anyway and pay either a person or get a bill in the mail, but I’m not entirely sure.

We were only in Nazare for a few hours. Finding parking was a bit harder than we thought given that it’s Wednesday and not summer. There were still plenty of people out and tons of cars looking for parking spots. We finally found a spot and headed to the beach. Last time was super foggy and we couldn’t see anything. The skies were clear today.

Nazare was fine for playing in the sand, but definitely not a beach to let the kids wade in the water or swim. The waves were pretty big and the tide looked strong. Luckily the kids were happy just playing in the sand.

We didn’t walk around town much today. It was more of a let the kids play kind of a day. Next time I want to go while the kids are in school so that we can look at some of the shops and go to the lighthouse. Given how tough it was to find parking I don’t think we will go again until late this year. I have been really wanting to see the big waves, so hopefully we can make it in November or December to see them.

Tomorrow the kids are back in school and Kyle and I are going to Tomar! I’m excited. I have been wanting to see Tomar for a long time.