# Where to live



## Andy1962 (Sep 17, 2012)

Hi,

I have just joined the forum as it seems to be an excellent and interesting place to hang out.
I have only just started to consider moving to Portugal when I retire - a few years yet.
I have visited PT twice in the past, once with my ex partner and her daughter where we stayed in a friends villa in Vllamoura in The Algarve.
Had a great time then, we really enjoyed travelling around the area and visiting places. Still remember my first taste of freshly cooked Sardines!
The second time was back in 2000 when I rode down with my ex-partner on my Norton Commando motorcycle.
We travelled down through France and Spain and ended up camping in Guarda whilst awaiting some spare parts to arrive from the UK for the bike.
We got the train to Figueira Da Foz and stayed in a Pension - spent a couple of days there until returning to Guarda to fix the bike and move on.
We spent a while camping around the middle of PT before heading back home via Spain.
I remember one campsite where we stayed had an entry road, on the corner of which was a house with a lemon tree in the corner of the garden. We stopped to admire it - I had never seen lemon trees before. The owner came out and somehow we managed to communicate a little. The upshot was that he said he would pick some lemons for us and leave them out on the garden wall for us for next time we passed by.
Sure enough the next day several large juicy lemons waiting for us!
I was wondering what it would be like living in the Coimbra region?
What sort of properties are available to purchase and if it would be easy enough for me as a single person to make a home there?
I would really welcome any information as it would be of a great help at this stage.

Thanks

Andy


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

FWIW, we moved from South Africa to central PT about a year ago & are about an hour from Coimbra.... it took us a while to settle in but now we have, we like it here very much.

As far as houses go, whilst it's a buyers market a lot of sellers, especially Portuguese sellers are not prepared to take greatly reduced offers.... but you can expect to find some very good buys here. All you need to do is ask that nice Mr Google & you'll find no end of properties for sale....... finding work (if you need to) won't be easy though.

Your experience regarding the friendliness & generosity is very typical of the Portuguese....... hardly a week goes by without a neighbour dropping by our place with gifts from the garden.... At the moment, it's bagfuls of the biggest and tastiest tomatoes I've ever come across and a few weeks ago, it was cucumbers by the dozen!


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## Andy1962 (Sep 17, 2012)

Thanks Traveling Man,

I guess what I really need to do is get over to PT and have a look around.
I have left hand drive VW camper which would be ideal but unfortunately the ferry costs around £700 plus I would have to drive all the way down from Scotland to Plymouth to get the ferry.
I guess I would need to Fly and rent a car in PT.
I could retire in 8-9 years, but would be in a position to buy somewhere before then. I am currently renting so wouldn't need to sell a place first.
The weather here really gets me down at times. No exageration the whole of June was low grey cloud every day!
I remember being in PT - clear blue skies and warm weather plus beautiful scenery and friendly people.
On my last trip we went out on the bike (which only has a small petrol tank) and I was running low so stopped in a village and asked where the nearest petrol station was.
An elderly woman in traditional black Portuguese clothing kindly offered to sell me some.
She went off and came back with a container of fuel and I was able to replenish my bike's tank.
I couldn't imagine that happening here or down in England.
I will check out property prices and see what is available.
I would need to be retired first to move permanently to PT. That is in a few years time.
I work in I.T. but don't as yet speak Portuguese apart from the odd word, so with that and the current financial climate it is unlikely that I would get work.

Andy


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

This summer has been a dream here.  but from my only experience of central PT winters, they do get helluva cold or at least, the last one did! 

When you're ready to hire a car, do a Google on Argus Car Rental and you'll find some good deals there.

Be warned, Portuguese is a ****** to learn. I speak several languages, maybe not fluently but easily enough to get by but Portuguese is harder than all of them combined.

The good news is there's usually an English speaker around somewhere! LOL.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Ferries cheaper out of "season"














Ferries cheaper out of season


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