I have now been in Portugal for several days, and I have some random wisdom to share.
- Bolt is the local alternative to Uber. It works very well and is very reasonably priced.
- I always get my foreign currency from ATMs, because they will give you a much better deal than, say, the money trade thing at the airports. In Portugal, you need to be careful which ATMs you try to use. Euronet and a few other ATMs will want to charge you a huge fee on top of giving you Euros from your bank’s home currency. (One wanted to charge me about $35 before handing over 200 Euros.) You need to watch for Multibank ATMs instead. They will give you a more normal fee, about 5 Euros, and then will convert your money at current day rates.
- I messed up in my scheduling while in Lisbon. Our boat leaves on Monday afternoon, so I thought we would maybe fit in one more museum visit before heading to the boat. Unfortunately, most museums are closed on Mondays. This is true in most cities these days, but is especially true in Lisbon. If one of your travel days is a Monday and you like museums, check their hours before planning that Monday.
- English is widely spoken in the cities of Portugal. I’ve yet to encounter someone who didn’t speak English.
- Of the tour guides I have met thus far, approximately 100% of them are really proud of the colonial years of Portugal. They also are proud that they stayed neutral during WWII, which is an unexpectedly jarring thing for an American to hear.
- All historical stories begin or end with the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Every single one.
