Friday, September 2, 2016

Our First Impression Of The Portuguese People

We landed in Lisbon and the first 24 hours in the city gave us our first impressions of the Portuguese people. We had heard and read blogs from those passing through and those who have chosen to move here and they all said how nice Portuguese people are. Our interactions were not in the tourist areas. Nearly all of the people we needed to speak with did have a grasp of English and most were fluent. The ones that were not, always found someone else to help us.

There was a young 20 something woman that popped up next to Vince to help translate for him. She even showed him where the next place to go was by walking him there.

A woman named Margarida who works at the airport helped us with our 3 large boxes and guided us out to our waiting car service driver that we had booked online. His face was not pleased when he saw the boxes and said we never told him he needed a large car. We showed him the print out of our reservation where it was specific with sizes and how many and he continued to argue that he wanted more money. Now, let me be clear here, the taxis are notorious at the airport for over charging, but we have found this is not the case in town. Margarida was quietly but firmly discussing to the driver just what she thought of his rude behavior and that he was not to continue it. “Take them to the hotel and be nice” was the gist of her tone and body language.


There have been several times that things like this have happened already. It reminds us of what the US was like when we were children. People were polite, helpful, kind, friendly, courteous and respectful. Here they not only say Hello, but everyone says Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening to all they meet.  What a wonderful way to start!