We are back home in Leiria today. It’s nice being back in our apartment, but I already really miss Northern Portugal and all of the things to do around there. The kids keep asking to go back to our hotel, lol. Sofia went back to school today. She really didn’t want to, but it probably helps that tomorrow is her birthday and they’ll celebrate with a cake at school.
We went to Ponte de Lima again a few days ago. The festival was over but they still had a few carnival rides going, so the kids got to go on a few rides. They were so excited.
We walked around a bit on both sides of the bridge. On the side away from the city center is a park with a garden and playground. I love walking over the bridge- it’s so beautiful and peaceful.
We didn’t really venture much from the river. I can’t wait to visit again to walk around some more and see more of the city. We heard quite a bit of English there, which surprised me given how small the city is. I didn’t think it would be on most people’s radar.
Sometime in between our two Ponte de Lima visits I took the kids to the Porto zoo. I can’t see going often, but it’s definitely worth a visit or two. The kids loved it and had a lot of fun. Next month we’re taking them to the Lisbon zoo and I’m really excited about that. We went once when we first moved to Portugal, but the kids were so young then. They’re old enough now to get more excited about seeing the animals.
Now that we’re home it’s time to really start looking for an apartment. We’re both nervous about moving- it will be another big first. I have no idea where to buy boxes, how to hire movers, or any of that. But we will figure it out. We both agree after this trip that it will be worth it. We love Amarante, Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima, Braga, Porto, and Guimaraes and we can’t wait to be closer to all of those places.
Kyle read about underrated places in Portugal a while ago and Amarante was on the list. He has been wanting to go for a long time, but it’s easier to get to from the north so we weren’t able to go until today.
Amarante
Kyle definitely undersold it 😂 He said that he was hoping to go get a few pretty pictures. It turned out to be even more beautiful than either of us expected. It’s also a little bigger than we expected- not big by any means, but more than just a few pictures.
I’m excited to move north, but I will really miss some places, like Obidos. Amarante is charming and unique, so I will be happy to add that to my list of amazing nearby places.
We walked around Amarante for an hour or so and then we went to Guimaraes. We have only been to Guimaraes once and I remember that I loved it. I might have even liked it more than Braga, I’m not really sure. They’re both great places.
I loved Guimaraes even more when we drove around today. It’s a great combination of new and old. The driving isn’t bad or too stressful. Yesterday I drove around Braga during rush hour and it was a lot busier than I’m used to. Guimaraes was busy in the city center, but not too bad. We went to the city park. It had a great playground and lots of green space.
Kyle really liked Guimaraes today too, so I’m happy about that. Viana do Castelo and Guimaraes are the top contenders to live. Guimaraes is definitely bigger and the location is great. Really easy and quick access to Braga and Porto. And Amarante. We are already looking forward to a day trip there one day when the kids are in school. If you have the chance to go to Amarante I highly recommend it!
We had a change of plans today, so Kyle and Leo decided to stay in Barcelos and Sofia and I headed to Viana do Castelo to check out the city center.
We all went together last week and saw one of the best playgrounds we have seen in a long time. It’s huge and right by the water. The kids had a blast and each kept running off to try something new. We could take them to that playground for years and it would never get old.
I love that there are walking and biking trails around the city, especially next to the water. The city is pretty flat and easy to walk around.
We also checked out the mall, which is attached to the train station. The mall is fine- it’s nothing special but has all of the stores we need. It also has a cute little train playground for the kids.
We also went to Santiario do Sagrado Caracao de Jesus Monte de Santa Luzia and took the elevator up there. The views were amazing and worth the trip.
Today Sofia and I wanted to see the city square and Praca do Republica. It’s really pretty and the pedestrian only area is a good size.
I loved Ponte de Lima and I’m excited to see it again, but I think Viana do Castelo makes more sense for us and will be more likely. It’s bigger and has more housing. When I looked in Ponte de Lima there was literally 1 apartment listed in our budget. Viana do Castelo doesn’t have a huge inventory, but it does have more than Ponte de Lima. It will be tough to find a place but I really hope we can.
Viana do Castelo has lots of water views, great waterfront paths, an amazing playground (and probably many more playgrounds), a mall, a train station, and a super charming downtown. We noticed how warm it was yesterday in Ponte de Lima, but in Viana do Castelo there is a nice breeze. I also love the proximity to Braga and Porto.
I have been on two day trips to Viana do Castelo now and I feel like I have seen the major sites but still don’t have a great feel for the city. I know there was more to downtown than what we saw. I really like the city and I’m excited to get to explore more of it.
We’re on our Northern Portugal road trip. It’s a working trip for me and I worked the past two days. I had today off and we may have gone a little overboard, lol. We are staying in Barcelos, about 10-15 minutes outside of the city center. The house we’re staying in is nice and the property is beautiful, but we don’t really like the area. It’s good to know because Barcelos is in a great location and we were wondering if we would like it. Today we ventured into the city center, which is pretty, but I think the city has been ruined for us (at least for now) due to our first impressions.
The roads in the area we’re in are pretty bad. A lot of them are cobblestone and there are so many blind turns. It feels like every time we turn there is a mirror to help us see if cars are coming. There are some really awkward angles and turns to make. We have driven quite a bit around the Silver Coast and Lisbon area and I haven’t really seen roads like this anywhere else yet.
Before we moved to Portugal I read posts from expats complaining about the driving here. It has never bothered us. We lived in Florida for 7 years and the driving there is some of the worst I have seen. Portugal is much better than Florida driving. Well, in Barcelos we finally are experiencing some of other people’s complaints. In Barcelos we get tailgated no matter how fast we are driving. The speed limit, 10+ over really doesn’t matter. Someone will come along and tailgate you. And they get pretty close. It’s really frustrating and annoying.
Anyway, it has been a few days of that. Also the area we’re staying in is more run down than we have really seen. So we had been having a bad impression of Barcelos for a few days before we got to see the center. Like I said, the center is pretty nice, but Barcelos is not for us. And that’s okay.
After visitng the city center, we decided to head to Ponte de Lima because I have been excited to see it. I love it. It has moved to number one on my places I want to live list. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to work out because it seems really hard to find an apartment there, but we can try. We stumbled upon a huge festival there by accident. We’re going to return later this week, after the festival to get a better feel for the city. I’ll do a seperate blog post on Ponte de Lima after our second visit.
We went to Viana do Castelo last week, but we just saw an awesome playground and the mall, so we plan on returning there this week too. I’ll write a blog post about Viana after our second visit too. Tomorrow I think we are heading to Amarante. Kyle has been wanting to visit for a long time because it looks like a beautiful town.
We’re back in Braga for a few days and we head back to Leiria tomorrow. I have been wanting to go to Guimaraes for a while now but we just never had the time. Yesterday we took a bus over there to see the city. It’s only a 25 minute bus ride from Braga.
Portugal was born here
The city is much bigger than I expected. They have a really charming historic city center. It looks different than other places I have seen in Portugal. I haven’t seen much of Europe, but central Guimaraes reminds me of European city squares I have seen in videos. It doesn’t feel as distinctly Portuguese as some that I have seen.
Something I love about Guimaraes is how many different parts the city has. There is the historic city center. There’s a palace and a castle. There is the street filled with flowers, with the church on one end and the fountain on the other (I don’t know the names of any of the places), there is a modern mall and various shopping areas, there is the cable car to the top of the mountain, and there are quiet and quaint streets that just feel so European. They also have a Friday market that we hope to see next time. I’m sure I missed some stuff because the city offers a lot.
We took the Guimaraes cable car to the top of the mountain. We knew there was a church with an amazing view, but didn’t know what else to expect. I guess the area is called Parque de Campismo da Penha and the whole area is beautiful. It’s very shady and cool up there. I could see going on hot days because there is a nice breeze. We wish we could have spent more time up there, but we hadn’t even known about the cable cars when we first went to Guimaraes, so we just didn’t have enough time. We did get to stop for ice cream and take a cute train ride to see more of the area.
Cable car ride and at the top
We both really love Guimaraes and it has moved into our top spot of places to look at for settling down. I never expected anywhere to knock Braga out of its top spot. Like I said earlier, I love the different aspects of Guimaraes and how it feels like so many different places in one. I also love how quiet certain parts are while still being central. Whichever we choose, they are only a 25 minute bus ride away from each other, so we will have two awesome cities nearby. Not to mention Porto as well.
On the way back to Braga we met a woman at the bus station who was headed home to Chaves. We were talking about how beautiful Guimaraes and Braga are, and she said that all cities in the north are beautiful. I googled Chaves and it looks gorgeous there and I definitely want to visit. A bus was going to Vila Real and it was pretty crowded, so I googled it, and it’s beautiful there too. She’s right, everywhere in the north is going to be stunning and I can’t wait to see them. All of them, lol. I’m adding every single Northern Portugal city to my bucket list.
For now we are going to have to slow down our Braga trips and focus on exploring the Silver Coast more. We were really excited about buying an apartment in Braga, but unfortunately our funding fell through. Someone was going to loan us money to buy a place, but they decided to back out. We need 30% for a down payment to a place, which we don’t have quite yet. We’re very disappointed, but it is what it is. We will keep saving and might have enough in 5+ years. For now I’m going to focus on working to make back the money we spent coming up here to see apartments and to keep funding our day trips.
A few days before we came to Braga we finally made it over the Nazare. I liked it a lot more than I expected to. I didn’t make a post because the gorgeous view was completely obstructed by fog. I’ll be going back there soon after we get back to Leiria. It’s pretty, the ocean breeze feels great in summer, and there is a playground Leo loves. Kyle went to Alcobaca and he really loved it, so I’ll be going there soon too. Lots more fun to be had and posts to make.
Braga is still the perfect fit for us. Even more so after spending a few days here. Yesterday we went to Bom Jesus and it was beautiful. The views from there are amazing. Today is mall day. I guess I have to accept that we just go to malls a lot 😆 It started when Sofia was born. She would cry at home, but she loved going out. She would do so well any time we left the house. The problem was that Florida was regularly one billion degrees outside. We realized malls were air conditioned, and free, so thats how this whole things with malls started.
As Sofia got older, we realized malls have some pretty fun things for the kids to do. And I am always appreciative of places where they can’t run out into the street. This morning was a rainy morning, so we headed to the mall. It was definitely one of the better ones for the kids. The playground was great and there were tons of rides for them to go on. It will be a great rainy day activity when we live here.
We also happened to meet a great family at the mall. They have a 1 year old son who Sofia really loved playing with. She loves babies. They are from Canada and have been living in Portugal for a few years now. We talked for a few minutes and we really like them. They love living here. We can’t wait to move to Braga.
Part of what is so exciting to us is that we want to live here for a long time. We want to raise our kids here. We bounced around the US a bit, moving every few years, and we never found anywhere we wanted to stay for a long time. We knew once we had kids (and especially once they start school) that we want to settle down. We want them to make friends at age 5 and still have some of those same friends into adulthood. Braga really feels like the place that we can do that. It’s small enough to feel manageable, but big enough to hold our attention. It has everything we need, and things we wanted that we didn’t even consider until now.
Tomorrow the plan was to take the train from Braga to Coimbra, and then the bus from Coimbra back to Leiria. The train company is on strike tomorrow. I got an email that services may be impacted, so now we’re not sure what to do. I’m not sure if that means that all trains are cancelled or just some. Definitely not looking forward to that. We wish we could just stay here. It’s really beautiful here and the more we see the more we love it. Soon enough. At least we live in Portugal. And now we know what city we want to move to.
We’ve only been in Braga for about 8 hours now and we have barely even seen it, but it’s our place. It was always the place I was drawn to on paper and now that we’re here we are even more sure.
It started with the train station. It’s not too big, so it’s easy to navigate. No stairs or elevators to manage with the strollers. The train lines are marked and there is an electronic board telling you which train goes where. And there are a bunch of taxis waiting outside. One thing that’s hard about Leiria is that when we get to the train station we have a hard time finding a car to get home. It would be awesome having taxis waiting outside.
Braga train station
I knew that Braga has the biggest pedestrian only area in the country, but it’s significantly bigger than I expected. Tons of streets. Some are filled with stores, and some are just gorgeous streets lined with restaurants and flowers. There are so many flowers here. Sofia and I love flowers, so seeing them all over the place is a bonus.
We are at a rental right in the center with great views of part of the pedestrian only area. I would love to live in the city center. It has everything we could want and more. We already saw two playgrounds nearby. There are so many restaurants and cafes here. Today we just picked one at random and it ended up being an amazing meal. Two appetizers, two entrees (pesto ravioli and a braised beef pasta), two coffees, two desserts (banana split and cheesecake of the day), and a bottle of water for 50 euro. I need to work more just so we can eat out when we move here, lol.
This city feels young and there are so many teenagers. We keep talking about how much Sofia and Leo will love growing up here. I can picture them as teenagers, taking the train to Porto with their friends, or even taking the train into Spain. Kyle and I can take a train to Spain for lunch while the kids are in school. How awesome is that?
View from our balcony
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll have a lot more to write and more pictures in a few days. I can’t wait to see more of Braga.
After years of knowing I would love Porto, we finally made it here! It’s amazing and beautiful, just like I knew it would be. It’s hard not to compare it to Lisbon, and it definitely feels different in some ways. Kyle is already super in love with Porto and says he likes it more than Lisbon. I love both cities for different reasons. One of the biggest and most noticeable differences is that Porto is more compact than Lisbon. It’s definitely still a big city but feels so much more compact. On the one hand, that’s great. It’s easier to get around and the things you want to see are all so much closer together. On the other hand, it feels so busy and makes me feel overwhelmed a lot quicker. We were able to stay in Lisbon for weeks and it didn’t really feel overwhelming the way most cities do. But Porto does feel overwhelming to me and it’s because there are so many people in a smaller area. It’s an unfair comparison though. We stayed in Lisbon for weeks and have been a few times. We have been in Porto for about 24 hours and this is our first visit.
People talk about the vibes of cities here, especially the vibe of the northern cities. I definitely notice it in Porto. It feels younger here, and in a sense, hipper. To me, Lisbon is the more refined older sibling, and Porto is the younger one who likes to stay out late. That’s probably a bad comparison, but I’m sticking with it, lol. Sometimes you want refined and cultured, and sometimes you want fun. I love both cities very much. Don’t make me choose! Both cities make me so happy to live in Portugal. I love this country.
There’s a lot I would like to do in Porto, but the only thing I cared about this trip was walking across the Luis I bridge and taking the Gaia cablecar. We did both this morning and it was even better than I imagined. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience…except I have no doubt that we will do it again. You can take a one-way trip or a round trip. We did the one-way trip and had lunch at the bottom. Next time we will do the round trip. It’s a pretty short ride and the views going back looked even better. For lunch we got to try the sandwich Porto is known for, the Francesinha. It wasn’t bad. I’m glad I got to try it and I don’t hate it, but I don’t see myself eating it very often either.
Francesinha
We arrived in Porto yesterday and went to the Jardins do Palacio de Cristal. It’s a beautiful park with great views of Porto. I definitely want to go back, but not on this trip. It was quite the hike to get there. We’re staying down by the water, which is a pretty flat area, but any time we try to go into the city we have to hike a bunch of hills. It’s really hilly here. At least the sidewalks are wider than in Lisbon, so it’s a little easier to push a stroller, but we can’t wait to visit some of these places without having to push strollers up the hills.
On Thursday we’re heading over to Braga. I wish we had more time in Porto, but this trip was really just to see if Porto is somewhere we would want to come to again. It definitely is! I know in my Aveiro post I had said we would probably move there, but we talked about it more and I think it’s going to be Braga. Braga was always number one on my list. It just feels right on paper. In two days we will finally be there and see if it feels right in person.
Growing Up Expat 