Bem-vindo to Alcobaça! We’re settling in

Returning from an early morning bike ride, Bill happened upon a Sagres beer truck delivering to an Alcobaça restaurant – not by hauling kegs or cases but through a long red hose! The beer ran from giant kegs in the truck, through the hose, and into the restaurant.

“Oooooo,” Bill said in solemn appreciation to the delivery man. “Muito bom [very good].”  

Nothing says “Bem-vindo [Welcome]” for Bill like a firehose of beer.

We’ve felt welcomed to Alcobaça in many ways as we’ve explored our new hometown in Portugal, uncovered some different ways of doing things, mangled the language, and set up our apartment.

We arrived at the Lisbon airport early on July 4, jet lagged after an overnight flight on which we didn’t sleep. The customs agent smiled and said “Bem-vindo” as she stamped our passports, but that happy moment faded as we waited for the last of our luggage. And waited, and waited, and waited. We had hoped that our direct flight from Montreal to Lisbon would prevent any lost bags. But no such luck. Finally, we went to the lost luggage area and waited nearly two hours to file a claim for our one missing bag.

But then we emerged into the arrivals hall and found Antonio – the driver we’d hired to take us, our two big bike boxes and other luggage to Alcobaça, about an hour north of Lisbon. He immediately restored us to good humour as we chatted and got to know him. He even bought us two Bolas de Berlim – a hamburger-sized doughnut-like pastry filled with custard and rolled in sugar. Nothing says “Bem-vindo” for me like a delicious not-overly-sweet pastry.

We love our apartment. The location is handy – right in the historic core of the town, two short blocks from a café and the Alcobaça Monastery, which we can see from our balcony. The church bells chime the hour and half-hour, but we think they stop at night. At least, they haven’t woken us up, but we’ve been sleeping soundly what with jet lag and the heat.

This area of Portugal has been having a heat wave. The highs have been in the upper 30s each day we’ve been here and hit 40 degrees Celsius several times. The locals are surprised and say this is unusual – normally there are just a few hot days in August. Unfortunately, the heat and dryness have sparked many wildfires north of us; so far, we’re safe.

We don’t have air conditioning in our apartment and, surprisingly, we really don’t need it. All the windows and balcony doors (we have three balconies) have integrated metal shades and we keep those closed when the sun is on that side. The concrete walls are 19 inches thick so that helps keep things cool, and we have a fan that we move from room to room. We’re starting to see the sense of stores and services closing from 1:30 to 3 p.m. – lunch time plus a break from the heat of the day. 

Portuguese apartments generally come with no major appliances and no light fixtures – just wires dangling from the ceiling. Also, no furniture, of course. We took flashlights and bought a candle the first day, but we had lots and lots of shopping to do – quickly and in Portuguese. This could have been overwhelming if it weren’t for our new friends at Portugal The Place.

Colleen and Clyde are two Americans who own Portugual The Place – an agency that helps expats find houses and apartments in Portugal. We had hired them last winter to help us find an apartment while we were still in Canada. They work with Ana, who is Portuguese but speaks fluent English, and Ivy, another American. Ana and Ivy did the live video tour of our apartment that helped us decide that was the one. And Ana made sure our hot water heater was installed before we arrived and that all our utilities were hooked up and running. We figured that was it for help from them, but we were wrong!

After our first night in our empty apartment, sleeping on our camping mats, we staggered with sore backs to the café on the next block – overlooking the monastery – and successfully ordered coffee and toast. We were contemplating where to start with our shopping when Colleen found us. She had been walking by and recognized us from our Zoom calls. She pulled up a chair and reassured us that they’re still here to help with whatever we need to settle in. She told us the best places to go for a mattress, sheets, major appliances, small appliances, furniture, kitchenware, dishes, and more. What a huge relief to know we had help!

We bought a mattress that day and it was delivered the next, much to the gratitude of our backs. We biked to Brico Marché (think Home Depot) and loaded our panniers with nine light fixtures. On top of Bill’s panniers, we also strapped a towel rack and a step stool, since the ceilings are so high even Bill needs help to reach them. We chose appliances at Worten (think Best Buy) and Ana helped us order them online. She also printed some documents we needed at the bank and to set up our cell phone service.

We bought two foldable camp chairs from Decathlon (think Mountain Co-op) and we’re using the box from our Bosch water heater as a foot stool and a box we scrounged from our neighbour, Maxine, to use as a dining table. How pathetic is that?! But not for too long. We’re off tomorrow to search for a couch and see a dining room table and chairs we found on Facebook Marketplace.

Even before we arrived, Colleen and Clyde had added us to the WhatsApp group of people they’ve helped find places in Alcobaça. Now we’re meeting those people in person. They have all been friendly and helpful, especially Maxine who lives in the penthouse above us. She lent us a flashlight/lantern, pillow, blanket, and wine bottle opener, and invited us to use her kitchen to cook some meals until our appliances arrived. We used her washing machine but hung our clothes on our own drying rack that we carried home on foot after another trip to Brico Marché. (Few people here have clothes dryers.)

On our second evening, Maxine organized a dinner at the sushi restaurant below us so we could meet Sean and Kate. Sean is an avid cyclist and he’s going to show us the good bike routes he’s discovered. On another day, we helped Sean and Kate unload their two pallets of stuff they had shipped from the U.S. and met several other expats. (So far, we’re the only Canadians.) Alcobaça is a small enough town (about 15,000 people) that we keep running into these people and some locals too, so we’re starting to feel like we’re part of a community. Strengthening our Portuguese will help even more.

We’ve already learned that we must be brave and initiate conversations so we can feel more integrated with the community. There’s an incredibly gifted man – João Paulo Ferreira, aka “the opera guy” – who sings opera outside the Opera Café each day, the sound intensified by the vaulted ceiling with pointed arches over the alley. When I saw him in the café the next day, I used the handy-dandy translation app on my phone, ventured up to him and said “Gostámos do seu canto de ontem.” [We enjoyed your singing yesterday.] I was rewarded with a huge smile, clasped hands, and an “Obrigado. Bem-vindo.” plus other Portuguese I didn’t understand. My goal is to have a proper conversation with him since we see and listen to him nearly every day.

As well as the beer being delivered via hose and no light fixtures or appliances in our apartment, we’ve made some other intriguing discoveries:

• Pillowcases with two open ends
• Flashing yellow arrow for right turns
• Toast that’s buttered and jammed on both sides
• Free bus service around town
• A horrifyingly large selection of canned wieners in the grocery store (balanced by a delectably large selection of olive oil)

Living here is already different from visiting. We’ve spent most of our time so far setting up our apartment and have seen just a couple of “touristy” things. We went to the big Saturday farmers’ market (mercado), hiked up the hill to the castle ruins, and explored the Alcobaça Monastery – a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s the focal point of the historic centre. One evening, we attended a free concert at the monastery – a magical setting with the church all lit up in purple and red. We didn’t understand any of the singer’s lyrics, but her voice and the eight-piece band were marvellous.

Once we have our apartment set up, we plan to broaden our travel circles, seeing more of Portugal and then more of Europe. For now, as we walk, bike, or take the free bus to various stores, we explore different routes so we can discover more and feel the “bem-vindo” to Alcobaça.

Here are some scenes from around Alcobaça.

We arrived in Alcobaça, Portugal in July 2022. Find out where we are right now by visiting our ‘Where’s Kathryn?’ page.